On a weekend night, the wait to get a table at the trendy P.F. Chang's China Bistro at The Waterfront can be as long as two hours.
The typical wait at Duke's Upper Deck Cafe on Eighth Avenue in nearby West Homestead is measured strictly in seconds.
Yet Joe Ducar, 41, who bought Duke's 14 years ago when The Waterfront was merely an abandoned steel mill, doesn't begrudge the huge development its smashing success. Even though it hasn't much bolstered his business or prompted new ones to open.
"I just wish The Waterfront was linked a little better to the surrounding neighborhoods," Ducar said. "I mean, none of the businesses there even face the neighborhoods. They all face away from them."
Two years after its debut, the sprawling 1.5-million-square-foot, $300 million retail, residential and office complex on the site of the former USX Works is a huge hit. Its numerous restaurants and Loews multiplex are consistently packed. In The Waterfront's newly-opened town center, there are few gaps in the retail space built around an old-fashioned town square — unless the Gap or Gap Kids count.
Few would argue that Continental Real Estate Services of Columbus, Ohio, has done anything less than a remarkable job in developing The Waterfront. Only about 25 acres of the 265-acre tract remain available.
But if any criticism can be leveled against those who accomplished the Herculean task of turning a two-mile stretch of abandoned industrial tundra into a thriving commercial mecca, it can be leveled thusly:
The Waterfront is a self-contained entity that neither readily embraces nor fully integrates itself into the communities through which it snakes — West Homestead, Homestead and Munhall. Communities that hoped The Waterfront would help rejuvenate the sagging fortunes of their own business districts.
"I think The Waterfront is wonderful, but it hasn't brought any businesses in yet on Eighth Avenue," said George DeBolt, owner of DeBolt Unlimited Travel Services Inc. in Homestead. "As a matter of fact, (two banks) that were up here moved down there."
Part of the problem is the railroad tracks that effectively serve as a border separating The Waterfront from municipal streets. Continental reinforced that separation by creating a blocks-long, 12-foot high mound of fill from The Waterfront's construction that now sits between the development and the railroad tracks.
Locally, this mound is known colloquially and rather derisively as "the continental divide." It certainly doesn't inspire a lot of pedestrian movement between The Waterfront and the neighboring streets.
To its credit, Continental, whose officials were unavailable for comment this week, is spending $200,000 to taper the mound and plant more than 400 trees on the massive mound. No matter how nice the landscaping, though, a barrier is a barrier.
Despite the fact The Waterfront essentially functions as an independent retail state, the communities that suffered through steel's demise believe it is an essential component of their eventual revival.
"What The Waterfront has done is bring people back across the (Homestead) High-Level Bridge again. Now we've got to get them to come to our side of the tracks," DeBolt said. "I would say the relationship between The Waterfront and the surrounding communities is full of promise."
Two years into an otherwise impressive success story, that promise remains unfulfilled.
