"I'd cross out (Tuesday) night as a good night, but only one night out of 13 was bad," said Stauber, president of Rugby Realty. "I'm not going to let this discourage me."
About 150 members of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 95 blocked the entry to the former Westinghouse Electric Corp. headquarters at 11 Stanwix St. Stauber said his wife, Aviva, was shoved as the couple tried to enter the building. The confrontation ended when police dispersed the pickets.
Union carpenters hired by Rugby Realty, which bought the building last month, replaced five workers who belong to the engineers union, which prompted the picketing. It also harkened back to Pittsburgh's past as a town with labor troubles.
No one was hurt or arrested in the incident, police said.
Bill Cagney, business agent for the union, blamed Aviva Stauber for initiating the contact.
Stauber's company filed a lawsuit yesterday asking a judge for an injunction to order pickets from the engineers union not to interfere with people entering or leaving the building.
Stauber recently rented a North Side apartment to get a better feel for Downtown and the region.
"With our daughter about to go to camp, I felt this was a good time for my wife to familiarize herself with the city, and quite frankly, for me to get a better feeling about the city from a living point of view," Stauber said.
Rugby Realty owns about 2.5 million square feet of commercial real estate here. Its holdings include the landmark Gulf Tower and Frick Building.
"I've always come into town, done my business and left town, but I never had the opportunity, except from a business situation, to really get to know the city, the people and what it had to offer," he said.
There also was a business "relevancy" to the decision, he said. Rugby is considering development of a 30-unit condominium complex at 925 Penn Ave., one of the more than 20 properties the firm owns in the city.
"I thought it would be a helpful exercise in planning our new project if my wife and I could live like somebody would live there to see what kind of features should be included," Stauber said.
So what has his stay been like so far?
"From the day we moved into the apartment, every day has been better than the next," Stauber said.
After a weekend stay at the posh Nemacolin Woodlands resort in Fayette County that included a side trip to nearby Ohiopyle for white water rafting, the couple has been spending leisure time visiting city restaurants, theaters and other points of interest.
"We were at the Benedum Center for the opening night of 'Mame,' and the next week, we saw 'Smoky Joe's Cafe' there," Stauber said. "The next night we went to 'Sheer Madness' at the Cabaret Theater, which is tremendous, and we already have tickets to 'West Side Story' in August."
Restaurant visits include venues along Penn Avenue in the Cultural District, where Rugby has made a number of its investments. Stauber raves about two rock bands that performed at the Thunderbird Cafe in Lawrenceville.
The Staubers have ridden bikes on a trail that leads to Washington's Landing and walked three blocks from their apartment to get a closer view of fireworks after a Pirates game.
"And this all has been since July 10," he said. "There just has been so much activity. When you don't have an hour commute in the morning and the evening, you've just added two hours to your life, basically, and it turns out that difference between that and a two-hour bike ride is dramatic."
"What I do now is that I wake up in the morning, I put my suit jacket in my backpack, my helmet and sunglasses on, get on my bike and it's 10 minutes door to door to my office," Stauber said.
Once at work, he gets to enjoy the panoramic view from his 14th-story office window, where he catches glimpses of the tour boats of the Gateway Clipper Fleet, jet skiers and river barges making their way along the Monongahela River.
"It just feels like you are in some resort area. You wouldn't believe that you are sitting here in Pittsburgh," he said.
Stauber says he plans to remain a Long Island resident. His 16-year-old daughter, the youngest of his three children, is still in school there.
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