Restoration of historic McCrory’s building almost complete

ALTOONA, Pa. (WTAJ) — The historic McCrory’s building in Downtown Altoona is almost fully renovated. The former department store on 11th Avenue will soon be known as ‘Center City Market and McCrory Luxury Apartments’.

The building’s new owner believes it will bring some much needed things back to the downtown area.

“Downtown has been really missing a lot for a very long time, and we saw a need for housing. And we also saw a need for more restaurants and things to do and activities. So when the opportunity came up about two years ago, we kind of jumped on it and put our proposal in,” Christopher Cook, Owner of McCrory’s said.

Once everything was in order, construction began to give the former department store a makeover. Christopher has worked in restoration and construction for almost 30 years. Chris said they’ve done a wide variety of projects throughout the state, but this is the largest project they’ve taken on as the owner and the builder.

The building will have seven businesses/vendors on the first floor and eight luxury apartments split between the second and third floors. One of the businesses that plans to move in is the Philly Pretzel Factory , making Altoona the second location within 50 miles of the 16602 zip code.

“For us, it’s not always about how much money we can make and different things like that, but it’s a great opportunity for us to be another staple in our community, to gather people, to touch people’s lives, to reach families, to reach, you know, people from little to old and just be a part of their life as well,” Nicholas Acevedo, Owner of Philly Pretzel Factory – Altoona .

The restoration of the building is just one piece in the effort to revitalize downtown, which Chris said will benefit other businesses too.

“All the feedback I’ve gotten is excitement, because the more things there are to do, the better. Because then like they don’t just have to come down for one or two things. There’ll be like seven or eight different options. So I think it’s going to make every business grow and I don’t think it’s going to take away from anybody currently operating,” Cook said.

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Construction could be completed as soon as the end of the year, or the beginning of 2025.

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