It’s 10:30 a.m. on a Thursday morning and a homeless man is curled up against the decorative angled brick below the archways of the large pane windows that line the office building known as the Fort Pitt Commons.

For context, it is important to understand that 40 years ago this building was a turn-of-the-century industrial warehouse that was converted into a breathtaking six-story structure with exposed brick, natural beams, an atrium lit by a skylight, and various-sized balconies overlooking all floors.

The structure was so well architecturally regarded the year it opened it won the David L Lawrence Building of the Year for its contribution to Pittsburgh’s Renaissance — and inside still retains the glory and uniqueness that earned that praise.

Outside along the sidewalk however is a different story; on most days more often than not feces and needles litter the sidewalks on either side of the building, and the smell of urine is omnipresent. So are the tents, which line two of the four sides of the building.