Developer’s vision for downtown filled with pride, hope
Cook has acquired seven city properties in past three years

Cook
Blair County Chamber of Commerce CEO Joe Hurd frequently kids around when speaking in private or public.
He was aiming to amuse the audience Thursday at the Chamber’s monthly breakfast meeting, after local developer Christopher Cook delivered a talk.
But he wasn’t entirely joking when he said of Cook’s speech: “Wow. Don’t you sometimes feel (when) you listen to something like that, that you’re a — slacker?”
Cook has gone from an apprenticeship as artisan, tradesman and later employee with his extended family’s Albert Michaels Gallery, beginning at age 13, through vo-tech carpentry, theater and art in college, work on premier buildings in Altoona, Hollidaysburg and Harrisburg, to the establishment of several ongoing businesses — and in the last three years, acquisition of seven downtown buildings, with intentions of helping lead the former commercial center of the city back to full cultural significance.
“I spent many years of my life being embarrassed and ashamed of Altoona, for what it had become,” Cook told the group.
He was looking to leave at one point.
“(Now) I have nothing but pride and hope,” he said.
He recognized what he’d like to see happen here in a recent visit to New York City, in the neighborhood where his hotel was located — not the “lights and the glamor” but “eateries, markets and small boutique stores on lower levels, with quality housing above,” he said.
A Leadership Blair County course in 2016 was a “turning point” for him. “It made me realize that I can do more than just be a restoration contractor,” he said.
It led to his family’s “personal investment” in the city — and to taking on “the worst of the worst buildings,” he said.
It also led to the focus on downtown.
“Downtowns across the nation were designed to be the heartbeat,” he said. “(But they) have taken the brunt of the urban sprawl,” leaving businesses fleeing to malls.
Since then, the malls have given way to “a culture of everything online,” he stated. But it’s possible to get “my grandparents’ Altoona back.”
Over the last three years, he has refurbished the Triangle building, now a banquet center with apartments in the upper floors; and The Columns, which is again a banquet center, larger than the Triangle. He has entered a lease-purchase agreement for the Heritage Discovery Center building, another banquet center, larger than The Columns. And he has begun renovations to the Penn Central building and the former McCrory’s building.
The Columns were in bad shape; the Penn Central was worse; and the McCrory’s building was still worse, he said.
The Columns was “quite overwhelming,” due to its scale and the “massive amount of work that it would take,” he said.
The Penn Central building “reminded me of something from an apocalyptic movie,” he said.
With the McCrory building, it was “like a literal bomb went off,” he said.
In the Penn Central, he plans for retail space, a restaurant and his own corporate offices, rental offices and kitchen and bath showroom, along with 33 “luxury” apartments.
He plans for a “center city market” on the first floor of the McCrory building, a venue that could become winter quarters for area food trucks, he said. His LaJo’s Market could also have a second location there, he said. He intends to create “open concept” two-bedroom apartments on the upper floors. And he hopes to acquire the lot next door, where the Woolworth building once stood, and turn it into a community park, with outdoor seating for the market and a play area.
He has additional downtown acquisitions in mind, he said.
Raised Catholic, Cook is a member of the Center City Church and credited Pastor Jim Kilmartin for inspiration, particularly in pursuing the McCrory opportunity.
Cook submitted the only proposal for the McCrory rehabilitation to the city’s Redevelopment Authority, despite its condition.
Cook routinely prays before making decisions.
“It’s funny how God puts things right in your path,” he said, referring to an encounter that led to his purchase of the former Intown Convenience Store building, which now houses his recently purchased Always a Party Rentals, a business compatible with the banquet centers.
“I’m absolutely thrilled with what he is doing,” said event attendee Donna Gority, retired Blair County commissioner. “I think he has the wherewithal and the vision.”
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.