Multimillionaire rolls out red carpet for Pittsburgh

For a man who grew up of modest means in Hillsville, Lawrence County, Rick Hvizdak has extravagant plans for Pittsburgh.

Extravagant might be an understatement. Hvizdak, whose personal wealth is estimated at $700 million, has spent $40 million amassing an eclectic collection of antiques, paintings and 20,000 Oriental carpets in a bid to turn Pittsburgh into an antiques mecca for collectors, buyers, interior designers and architects between New York City and Chicago.

To do so, he's buying commercial property in the West End. He opened Artifacts in May, a 42,000-square-foot, two-story former warehouse on South Main Street that will act as his main showroom for American, French, British, Italian and Flemish antiques. The nearby St. James Church, a colossal former house of worship adorned by 30-foot stained-glass windows, will act as Hvizdak's fine art gallery when it opens later this year.

Hvizdak bought the church last year for $150,000 and has an army of workers renovating the structure.

"It's a massive undertaking," says Hvizdak, 49. "The top designers and architects in the world, I want to get them to Pittsburgh."

Hvizdak is preparing to roll out his vision with a national print, television, Internet and billboard advertising campaign. He chose the West End because he likes the architecture and affordability of the buildings. He looked at launching a similar endeavor in New York City but was dissuaded by the high cost of real estate there. He would need to spend $25 million to buy a building to house his vast collections in Manhattan, he says.

He has vowed to undersell the area's Oriental rug merchants with steep discounts on quality rugs. He can do so, he says, because he buys in bulk. Hvizdak has personally crossed the globe -- with stops in Turkey, Central Asia, Romania -- on a buying spree. He recently returned from Turkey, where he logged 1,600 miles in a rental car with his friend Mustafa Burgola, dropping $500,000 on rugs he then shipped to Artifacts. He estimates he's spent $30 million on expensive rugs in three years.

"I buy what I like," Hvizdak says.

Artifacts, Hvizdak says, offers something for buyers ranging from the discerning millionaire to the newlywed doctor decorating a starter home. Items include a $275,000 hand-carved mirror and $2,500 paintings by 19th-century Austrian landscape painter Fritz Chwala.

Hvizdak's friends and fellow collectors -- many with deep pockets -- marvel at his bold plans for the West End. But they aren't surprised. They say the endeavor is simply "Rick being Rick."

"It's a bold move, and a bold vision for Pittsburgh," says friend and fellow collector Chuck Pauli, 63, who met Hvizdak five years ago through mutual collector friends.

"Artifacts is a toy he likes. It's therapy for him. He's putting his money where his mouth is. Pittsburgh should be happy he's committed to this. He's adding a new dimension to the city," says Pauli, of Fox Chapel, who has been collecting 18th-century English furniture and 16th- and 19th-century Dutch paintings for 35 years.

The venture is not without financial risks. How do you convince collectors to bypass New York City, Chicago and Miami and come to Pittsburgh instead• When many who have never been to the city harbor images of a post-industrial cityscape with a blue-collar history, how do you convince them that the city is a go-to destination for high-end art and antiques?

"It's going to be hard. Most people aren't interested in buying this stuff," Pauli says. "(Pittsburgh) is still more McDonald's than Mortons."

Pauli says that getting the word out, and then getting people to visit the showroom and gallery, is crucial to making a go of it. He suggested that when and if a casino comes to Station Square, ferrying gamblers over to the West End by shuttle could be a solution. Restaurants and nightclubs in the West End could put it on the map much the way the South Side has become a popular destination for those seeking the night life.

"He's putting enough stuff at one location, and the idea is that it will become a magnet for people interested in this type of thing," Pauli says.

Sonny Bellman, a friend and fellow collector who lives in a compound modeled on an 18th-century German hunting lodge in Glenfield, called Hvizdak a "human calculator."

"The bottom line is that he has an ability to see value. He's a brilliant man, relentless in his pursuit of quality," says Bellman, who retired in 2001 after flying airplanes for US Airways for 37 years.

Bellman says Hvizdak came from modest means and had to work hard just to finish high school. Hvizdak is a man always searching for the next deal, another avenue to increase his holdings and make money.

"He's had a number of odd jobs, selling cars, pumping gas. He barely made it out of high school. I like to say they had to burn the school down just to get him out," Bellman says. "I find him fascinating."

Hvizdak grew up in Hillsville, Lawrence County, "a population of one -- and a goat," he says. He is one of five children whose father repaired antiques for a living. Money was tight. He held a series of odd jobs growing up -- gas station attendant, car and insurance salesman -- before apprenticing for an older brother who owned a successful real-estate transaction company based in Kennedy Township.

Today, Hvizdak owns 30 enterprises, including a public golf course, restaurants, a hotel in the United Kingdom and real estate in Southern Florida. The bulk of his wealth comes from National Real Estate Information Services, which he bought from his brother. The company serves as an online platform for property transactions and employs 1,500 people. It had revenues of $300 million last year, he says.

Hvizdak divides his time between a house in Cranberry and a 150-foot yacht moored in the Intercoastal Waterway near Boca Raton, Fla. He has four children and attributes much of his success to a can-do attitude and to motivational speakers such as Tony Robbins, Brian Tracy and Zig Ziglar. Their books and audiocassettes litter his office, sharing space alongside an abundance of artwork and family photos. He started collecting antiques in 1990.

His attention to detail prompted him to move Rasol Tursonzadah from New York City to Pittsburgh in 2000. A Tajik who grew up in Afghanistan, Tursonzadah oversees Hvizdak's vast collection of Oriental rugs, repairing, restoring and selling them to a client base he says is growing. Interior designers and collectors are increasingly making their way to the Artifacts showroom, he says.

Tursonzadah is impressed by his boss's work ethic.

"We have the best-quality rugs, the best dyes, the best designs. (Hvizdak) is a very hard worker," Tursonzadah says.

On a recent afternoon, as he drives his Lexus SUV to his office in Kennedy, Hvizdak fields a barrage of phone calls from the two cell phones he carries. At one point, a Realtor in West Palm Beach calls to say that, although the house he owned had sold, the previous owner still had two large boats moored on the water out back.

Hvizdak, showing a subtle impatience, tells the Realtor to take care of it.

"Tough times never last," Hvizdak says. "Tough people do."

Artifacts, 110 S. Main St., West End. Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays-Fridays; 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays or by appointment. Details: 412-921-6544 or www.artifactsweb.com .