The Pittsburgh makeover - Hamilton group finds striking similarities, inspiration

The possibilities are apparent on every street corner as a group of Hamiltonians travel this Pennsylvania city that is transforming itself from a steel power to a white-collar metropolis based on research and medicine.

Amid gleaming corporate towers are heritage buildings that remind this contingent of home. An historic downtown hotel where the group is booked is eerily reminiscent, from the street and inside, of the dormant Royal Connaught Hotel in its heyday. The 596-room William Penn Omni Hotel is fully booked mid-week in March.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger, who leads the group of city staff and arts advocate Jeremy Freiburger, says he's hopeful the Connaught, owned by a powerful local consortium, will be revived. "I think it's only a matter of time. I'm quite optimistic about it," he says.

Just a stone's throw from the hotel is a former Gimbles department store that now serves as office space for ketchup giant Heinz. It bears more than a passing resemblance to the Lister Block that is undergoing redevelopment on James Street North.

There are several reminders of what's been lost in Hamilton, too. Pittsburgh's courthouse echoes the former City Hall that was torn down to make way for the Eaton Centre. A stretch of old theatres in Pittsburgh's Cultural District conjure up visions of the Century Theatre that was recently demolished. There are two incline railways that carry riders up Mt. Washington on the city's southern end, much like Hamilton once had.