Outside of Wrigley Field in Chicago, visitors can watch movies on a giant video board, take in a concert, browse a French-themed market, hone their stroke at putt-putt golf, or work up a sweat during a fitness class.
All without ever attending a Cubs game.
The programming is all part of Gallagher Way, a 30,000-square-foot triangular plaza that is open to fans, visitors, and neighbors of the famous park throughout the year — even when the baseball team isn’t playing.
“It’s all about creating a great neighborhood place,” said Eric Nordness, managing principal of Marquee Development, the real estate arm of the Ricketts family, the owner of the Cubs and the plaza.
On Pittsburgh’s North Shore, the Pirates are chasing their own version of Gallagher Way outside of PNC Park.
The team is purchasing a 30,000-square-foot lot across from the ballpark’s home plate entrance for use as a plaza as well as a 15,200-square-foot bar and restaurant space on the first floor of the apartment complex being built next to the parcel.
It represents an interesting foray into real estate for the baseball club.
While the Pirates and the Steelers have partnered with Columbus, Ohio-based Continental Real Estate Companies for two decades in developing the land between PNC Park and Acrisure Stadium, this is the first time one of the teams will own any of the real estate outright.
The goal is to create a Gallagher Way-type of destination filled with events like concerts, movies, watch parties, and fitness classes all programmed throughout the year, not just on the 81 days the Pirates play at home.
Having control of the real estate — whether that involves the proposed plaza and restaurant space at West General Robinson Street and Mazeroski Way or the ballpark’s retail spots on the Federal Street side — gives the Pirates the ability to shape the experience for fans and non-fans alike, team president Travis Williams said.
“I think that we as an organization see that the game day experience starts as fans get closer and closer to the ballpark. We wanted to make sure that we have control over those areas where we can impact that game day experience,” he said.
For the Pirates, that means a “fully activated” Federal Street where fans can “have a wonderful time as they’re walking to the ballpark,” especially after the Roberto Clemente Bridge reopens following its rehab.
“Likewise, for those fans that are taking the T over or who are parking in the lots, we see that the plaza and this experiential retail will be yet another opportunity for our fans to enjoy the game day experience before they get to the ballpark,” Mr. Williams said.
As such, “it was really important for us to make sure that we had control over what was going there and who was going to be helping to activate those spaces.”
Mike Hudec, Continental vice president of development in Pittsburgh, has described the Pirates’ ownership of the plaza and restaurant spaces as “unique” for the North Shore.
The only thing that comes close is the joint venture between the ballclub and the Steelers to develop the 441-space Champions parking garage next to the proposed plaza. The teams jointly own the garage real estate.
Nearly all of the other development between the two sports venues has been led by Continental, which was hired by the Pirates and the Steelers in 2002 to do the work.
In the past, Continental typically leased the retail space associated with its North Shore projects to a tenant.
But in the case of the six-story apartment complex Continental is building next to PNC Park, the Pirates wanted to have ownership of the first floor retail space next to the plaza and the plaza itself, Mr. Hudec said.
“It’s a different role,” he noted.
And it’s one that is becoming a bit more common among Major League Baseball teams, said Marc Ganis, president of Chicago-based Sportscorp Ltd., a sports industry consultant.
The Cubs, the Boston Red Sox, the Atlanta Braves, the San Francisco Giants, and the Texas Rangers are among the teams that have interests in real estate around their ballparks.
“It’s not prevalent but it’s not uncommon, either,” Mr. Ganis said.
The reason teams want to own the real estate is simple enough — they want to be able to craft the fans’ experience outside the stadium on game day and put their own imprint on what happens on non game days, Mr. Ganis said. And with that level of control comes opportunities to make money off naming rights, sponsorships and other advertising, as well as from the development itself.
At Wrigley, for example, the Ricketts have sold the naming rights to the plaza to Chicago-based Gallagher Insurance.
Besides that patch of real estate, the family owns an office building, with the Cubs as a tenant, and a hotel outside of the park. Both have multiple street-level retail spots.
In Boston, Fenway Sports Group, owner of the Red Sox and the Pittsburgh Penguins, has been involved in property development around Fenway Park, another iconic baseball venue.
It has built MGM Music Hall at Fenway, a 91,500-square-foot performing arts venue adjacent to the ballpark, which also is owned by FSG. Through its real estate arm, FSG also is partnering with WS Development and the owners of ‘47 Brand on a 2.1 million-square-foot project featuring commercial, residential, and retail spaces on five acres of land in the neighborhood surrounding the ballpark.
In Atlanta, Liberty Media, owner of the Braves, has been the driver behind the Battery, a mixed use development next to Truist Park featuring offices, apartments, shops, bars, restaurants, a hotel and a music venue.
Last year Forbes detailed just how lucrative the real estate side business can be for a team, reporting that the Battery generated $260 million in revenue in the second quarter of 2022 alone for Liberty.
The Pirates’ venture into real estate is far less ambitious.
They’ve hired HiLife Hospitality, the group behind the creation of the Burgatory restaurants and Shorty’s Pins x Pints, to develop and operate concepts for the plaza and the restaurant and bar spaces.
Herky Pollock, partner in HiLife Hospitality, said Gallagher Way was one of the places his team looked at in trying to map out a strategy for the North Shore.
The goal, he said, not only is to use the plaza and the restaurant “as an extension of PNC Park” for fans on game days but also to “transform it into something the entire city can utilize as part of its daily entertainment experience.”
Similar to Gallagher Way, HiLife is looking at doing movies, watch parties, concerts, fitness classes, corporate events, weddings, and other activities “to liven up the heart and soul of the North Shore,” he explained.
The restaurant space will include an experiential entertainment component “unlike anything else that currently exists in Pittsburgh.”
“We want to become part of the fabric of Pittsburgh and the landscape of the North Shore. To do so, we need to be more than a sports complex and appeal to the greater community at large with a myriad of events,” Mr. Pollock said.
Besides the first-floor restaurant and bar in the apartment complex, HiLife is planning to supply the plaza with food and drink stands and kiosks and food trucks.
“I may bring my hot dog cart out of retirement,” Mr. Pollock joked, a reference to his first business venture as a teenager.
While the restaurant component is still being refined, it will involve everything from “full-service dining to a lively bar to a variety of fast casual convenience food and drink,” he said.
What neither the restaurant nor the plaza will do, Mr. Pollock stressed, is copy what fans can grab inside PNC Park.
“The offerings at PNC Park have not even come into consideration. Rather we are looking to fill voids that exist on the North Shore and in the urban core,” he said.
In addition to Gallagher Way in Chicago, Mr. Pollock’s team checked out ballpark-related developments in other cities to see what works — and what doesn’t.
“We have used other cities as examples of what we don’t want to do simply because they are solely focused on sports themes or sports bars, which we feel is a deterrent to all of the other components we will have,” he said.
Beyond the plaza and restaurant space, the Pirates control the retail spots on the Federal Street side of PNC Park through their lease with the Sports & Exhibition Authority, the ballpark owner.
Over the years, the retailers in those spots have changed. Right now, they include Taps and Taco and a Pirates Clubhouse store. The team is working with Fanatics to fill a large space formerly occupied by Atria’s restaurant, a pizza restaurant, and a PNC bank branch with a “new Pirates retail experience,” spokesman Brian Warecki said.
Despite the recent property moves, Mr. Williams said the Pirates have no interest in amassing a real estate empire around their ballpark.
He emphasized that the team has been part of the development through its partnership with the Steelers and Continental — one that has produced four office buildings, Stage AE, a hotel, an apartment complex in the works, and more than 100,000 square feet of retail space.
“I wouldn’t say we’re going to do anything more there, double down on being in the retail and entertainment space,” he said. “We’ll leave it to people like Herky to be able to activate the North Shore.”
In Chicago, Gallagher Way has been in operation since 2017.
It started, Mr. Nordness said, as a way for the Cubs — mindful of the disruption and inconvenience caused by home games — to give back to the neighborhood.
During Cubs games, part of the plaza near one of the Wrigley gates is closed off for use only by fans who have tickets so they can wander in and out of the ballpark. But outside of that, it is available to all.
The response, Mr. Nordness added, has been tremendous.
“It has just hands down been universally loved and adopted,” he said.
The Pirates are hoping to create a similar vibe in their neighborhood. But they have no plan to limit the plaza to just ticketed fans on game days.
“We’re looking at something that is able to be activated and exciting and a vibrant part of the North Shore 365 days a year,” Mr. Williams said.
Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com
First Published: April 30, 2023, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: May 1, 2023, 10:53 a.m.