Pittsburgh Retail Market Report

New retailers enter the market as metro recuperates. Pittsburgh's retail market is moving in a positive direction, after a challenging period that began prior to the pandemic. From early 2019 to mid-2021, more than 1.5 million square feet of space returned to the market on a net basis. This appears to have reversed, as a net of more than 800,000 square feet was absorbed during the trailing 12 months ended this June, the best performance in this metric in five years. Still, vacancy is elevated over the pre-2019 norm, with Greater Downtown and the CBD among the locales reporting the highest availability. On a brighter note, a rise in pandemic-driven concessions has allowed a number of larger franchises to expand into the metro. Joining a UFC-branded training center and Crunch Fitness, Target opened the Golden Triangle's lone supermarket in July.