Front-page news in the Mirror earlier this month provided more cause for optimism about Downtown Altoona’s future.

That news was a great way to welcome the start of this new year.

The focus of the article was the once-proud Gable’s building that was a centerpiece of the era preceding the exodus of stores and other businesses to suburban venues.

However, unlike the former McCrory’s building, which fell into great disrepair caused much municipal trepidation, the Gable’s structure has continued to be a player — albeit a diminished one — in this city’s economic bloodstream.

On the McCrory’s building front, no doubt, many city residents are awaiting a positive report about that structure’s future, specifically what has been accomplished to return the building to some meaningful semblance of its former prominence.

But regarding Gable’s, the picture painted by one of its owners during a recent visit must be considered a springboard of hope that the building might someday house exciting new possibilities not heretofore envisioned.

City leaders should make sure they are on board with helping the building’s owners achieve their worthy ideas without avoidable delays. One way that can be accomplished is by marrying the owners with the long list of reputable enterprises in place, in and around Altoona, to help the owners accomplish their objectives with the confidence and ease that should accompany such an important undertaking.

Area residents should feel upbeat about the Gable’s ownership group’s overall opinion of confidence about Altoona today and looking ahead. That California group has been captivated by Altoona’s beauty and by city residents’ desire that the structure be returned to the mecca status their parents and grandparents frequented often.

Much of the building is essentially ready for a tenant or tenants to move into, said Yadwinder Dod, one of two principals in DSD Investors, the ownership group. It was Dod who provided the optimistic message regarding the Gable’s structure and the city as a whole during a local visit.

The ownership family has likened the city to a movie set, with the word “gorgeous” being used to describe the family’s opinion of the city.

It is reasonable to assume that a substantial component of that opinion is the work already accomplished regarding the downtown’s vast, ongoing revitalization initiative.

Even during the bleakest times following the 1960s-70s economic exodus, the city did not succumb to pessimism, but instead began building back in a way consistent with changing needs and expectations.

It is to be hoped that the former McCrory’s structure, as well as the Gable’s complex, can someday be regarded as sturdy cornerstones of the city’s resiliency as time continues to move ahead toward mid-century.

Consider that 50 years ago many people residing here or nearby, reacting to the economic exodus as well as the local railroad industry’s problems, were envisioning no viable options for saving the downtown.

Every year, the number of people who were alive during Downtown Altoona’s heyday diminish. Every year the number of people who, as children, accompanied their parents to Gable’s as a major part of their holidays shopping experiences, diminish.

True, the scope of such experiences are not ever likely to return, but there remains a significant place for the downtown nonetheless. Hopefully, with the help and the thinking expressed by the Gable’s current ownership group, that “place” will be bolstered before too much time elapses.