THE RED TAPE PANEL WITH FREDLEE QUINN, CHARDAE JONES, MARITA GARRETT, AND ASHLEY AND DONTAE COMANS. (PHOTOS BY J.L. MARTELLO)
Opening in April 2025 on third floor of Greenwood Building
Get ready newlyweds, music performers, upcoming birthday babies, birthday showers and more, the New Pittsburgh Courier has learned exclusively that a new Black-owned premier event space is coming to Downtown Pittsburgh.
KHAMIL BAILEY AND MONTIA ROBINSON WILL LEAD THE NEW PREMIER EVENT SPACE, OPENING ON THE THIRD FLOOR OF THE GREENWOOD BUILDING, DOWNTOWN, IN APRIL 2025.
The Courier has learned that the 499-person-capacity space will be on the third floor of the Greenwood Building, in the 200 block of Smithfield Street. The event space is a collaboration between Greenwood Plan executive director and founder Khamil Bailey and prominent Pittsburgh event planner Montia Robinson, who is also a Courier “Women of Excellence” honoree for 2024.
“It seems to be a need that existed, especially for the Black community,” Bailey told the Courier, Dec. 9. “And then having access to something like that Downtown, it was a need that needed to be filled.”
The event space, which has yet to be named, should be open by April 2025, Bailey said.
The Black-owned event space is just another Black-owned entity that is opening up shop Downtown at the Greenwood Building, just like Bailey promised nearly a year ago when Bailey and her Greenwood Plan constituents were able to purchase the entire building for $4.075 million. Bailey has said she wants the building to serve as a Black mecca of sorts in Downtown, and apparently, she’s on her way to following through on that vision.
“We wrote it down, so once you write it down, it becomes real,” Bailey said. “And that’s been helpful in making sure that we stay true to the objectives and the vision, and so far, so good.”
ALEXIS LENAE
DONTAE COMANS
In May 2024, the Black-owned eatery PAIR Charcuterie opened at the Greenwood Building, sitting on the corner of Smithfield and the Boulevard of the Allies. Its owner is Shaquala Swinton-Betts. There’s a longtime Cricket cell phone store which also has a storefront at the Greenwood Building, and the Traveler’s Aid of Pittsburgh also has space in the building.
Bailey, who began at the building with the second-floor co-working space “Emerald City,” said more of the events that have been held at Emerald City might move to the third floor event space, as Emerald City should be seen more as an office environment.
Emerald City was the home to the sixth “Greenwood Week Conference,” which was held, Oct. 10-13. Some of the conference events were also held at nearby Point Park University.
Bailey said some of the seminars for the conference focused on business insurance, social media for business, financial planning for business, and an art mixer. Roughly 75 people had a chance to hear from Black Pittsburgh’s aficionados in their respective fields like Saloam Bey of Credit Power, LLC, Wilkinsburg Mayor Dontae Comans, Orlando Houston (consultant with Equitable Advisors), Fredlee Quinn (Swissvale Borough Councilman), and Alexis Russell of Russell General Contracting.
SOCIAL MEDIA FOR BUSINESS PANEL—GABRIELLE DAVIS, BRUCE THORNTON, CHI ILOCHI, RIAN LEWIS
Bailey said if you missed the Greenwood Week conference this year, don’t miss the next one in 2025, where you’ll learn, among other things, “hiring your first employee, making sure your taxes are done properly, breaking six figures in entrepreneurship…”
Bailey added: “We’ll also do some industry-specific networking, so if you’re in the real estate industry or the child care industry, we’ll have some industry-specific networking opportunities.”
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