The former McCrory’s 5 & 10 building in downtown Altoona has proven all of its naysayers wrong.

By “naysayers” we mean those people who could envision no chance of saving the formerly deteriorated 11th Avenue structure.

Even if the building itself were rehabilitated, the naysayers believed, it would be next to impossible to find anyone confident enough in its future to want to try operating a business in it.

Wrong!

A building that had seemed destined for the wrecking ball — if it were able to avoid collapse before the wrecking ball arrived to demolish it — is once again alive and well — and signaling an optimistic forecast for the future, not only for the building, but also for the downtown business district as well.

Besides that, it is a vivid example regarding what is possible if the right people — believers in Altoona’s present and future — are available and willing to try to make great things happen.

Altoona had the right person when Christopher Cook entered the picture by expressing interest in the structure, not “empty-handed,” but with ideas and classic vision on how the McCrory’s structure could be made a downtown asset once again — despite the odds that seemed to be stacked against him and the building itself.

Nevertheless, there was a period of uncertainty even after Cook had been identified as perhaps a once-in-a-

generation candidate for the challenging restoration task that would have to be consistent with the city’s environment, needs and downtown renaissance, going forward.

Said differently, the restored McCrory structure could not clash with what was, and is, going on around it.

What has evolved as a result of Cook and fellow developer Jeff Long, who now owns 51% of the project, is an outcome that should, first of all, be a people generator for the downtown in general.

That’s because of the project’s character and what it will continue to offer to those who patronize it by way of the Center City Market and the other businesses already operating there.

Additionally, the building is a home, because of the eight apartments occupying its upper floors — a home to approximately 25 people already living in those units.

The building truly merits the classification mixed-use — and mixed use in ways that merit the upbeat description “positive.”

However, it is appropriate to take a step back and revisit an important key that allowed the renovation and “resuscitation” of the building to come about.

Many city residents might recall May 2022, when Cook asked the Altoona Redevelopment Authority to accept just $1,500 for the building in which the city had invested about $130,000 to delay an unscheduled “meeting” with a wrecking ball.

Yes, it was a ridiculously low buying price, but the sale offered — and continues to offer — the opportunity for the city to recoup its loss quickly.

The project is an excellent exercise in achieving tremendous long-term value in exchange for an upfront loss.

Had the city not accepted Cook’s offer, the municipality might have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars more, with the potential long-term “value” amounting to zero dollars, despite a vacant parcel of land accompanying the building.

A Mirror editorial on May 26, 2022, made this additional observation:

“A significantly larger purchase price, possibly from some non-resident without a strong commitment to Altoona’s best long-term interests, could be damaging to the city’s downtown renaissance.”

The former McCrory structure continues to be a wonderful story in the making.