While it is far-fetched to even be thinking in the following way, the main point of that thought process has a worthy objective behind it for the city of Altoona.

Here goes:

How wonderful it would be if some Altoona lottery player were to win a hundreds-of-millions or a billion-dollar Powerball or Mega Millions jackpot and decide to do something special and great for this wonderful city?

Some people also might wonder whether there might be enough wealth in and around the city whereby a number of individuals or entities might be willing and able to come forward to make possible the same objective.

What we’re thinking about is the jackpot winner or some other entity or entities providing enough money to the Altoona Blair County Development Corporation to allow ABCD to restore completely the former Gable’s Department Store building — as well as the adjacent parking garage — to fix a significant gap in the city’s downtown renaissance effort.

Far-fetched? Maybe. Impossible? Nothing is impossible if the right “stars” align.

Much has been accomplished up to now on Altoona’s renaissance front, including, of course, restoration of the former McCrory’s 5 &10 building that for a long time was considered an almost certain candidate for demolition.

With that significant restoration accomplishment as evidence, the right money in hand could do much more, this time on behalf of the Gable’s structure that once was a centerpiece for the downtown-and-beyond retail environment.

People who weren’t alive 50 or 60 years ago find it hard to visualize the economic mecca that 11th and 12th avenues represented, having been replaced since that time by the suburban shopping venues, for example, along Plank Road and Interstate 99.

But back to Altoona’s downtown, a Gable’s project, if pursued correctly and successfully, could inspire much more development and, perhaps, even more relevant and important, much more confidence.

And, heightened confidence can inspire new, innovative ideas and paths to progress.

Perhaps this editorial might seem “somewhere out there” regarding finding enough revenue on behalf of a Gable’s revitalization, but brainstorming that is dedicated to a great purpose sometimes can extract from who-knows-where something positive heretofore not envisioned — something possible.

Let’s wait and see but, more importantly, let’s not opt to give up.

According to ABCD President/CEO Stephen McKnight’s comments included in a Jan. 21 Mirror front-page article, individuals described as experts estimated in 2017 “that it would cost more than $25 million to expose the original Gable’s department store windows by removing the 1970s brick casing, while also gutting the interior to create a ‘vanilla’ box with wide open interior spaces.”

While ABCD has announced plans to use $1.3 million from its general fund to purchase the building in question, along with the building’s parking garage, that 2017 $25 million estimate will continue to loom as a difficult hurdle for which a workable solution must be found.

The city’s most ambitious and forward-seeing individuals need to find a way to get together to, yes, brainstorm and weigh options.

The Gable’s building is worth that effort and the energy needed to make what now seems impossible not so unreasonable and far-fetched after all.

Altoona became all-in to saving the McCrory’s building; it must become equally committed, going forward, to Gable’s.