Urban Redevelopment Authority OKs $8.73M for East Liberty projects
| Tribune-Review Sam Spatter May 15, 2009 |
Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood got the lion's share — $8.73 million worth — of projects approved Thursday by the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority. Up to $2 million will be sought from the state for a $7 million project to convert portions of Penn Circle from one-way to two-way traffic to accommodate a planned Target store. And up to $730,000 will be used to help pay for $1.53 million in roadway and plaza construction on the 5900 block of Broad Street to help control storm water at the new Indigo Hotel. Another $2 million will be used for a $5 million, 148-space parking garage on Penn and Centre avenues and Broad Street, to be built adjacent to the Stadterman Building. In addition, the URA board approved seeking up to $4 million for Walnut Capital's $113 million Bakery Square project, expected to open this fall. The funds — authorized in April by Gov. Ed Rendell — will help rehabilitate the former Nabisco plant building. Bakery Square will include retail, offices, restaurants, a new parking garage, a fitness center and a 120-room hotel. The site in the Larimer neighborhood is expected to retain and create 1,182 jobs, developers say. In other action, the URA approved: • Seeking a $500,000 Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant for a proposed eight-tenth of a mile test track by Bombardier Transportation Holdings USA on a site being developed by Almono LP in Hazelwood. The 178-acre site is owned by four local foundations and has the Regional Industrial Development Corp. as a general partner. Bombardier said it wants to test enhancements to its Innovia automatic people mover system, to improve its marketability. After testing, it may extend the track as a people mover to link with Oakland and, perhaps, the South Side, said Paul Overby of Paul Overby Associates, a consultant to Bombardier. He said the company has a half-mile test track behind its West Mifflin plant, but can only test the vehicle up to 35 miles an hour. The Almono site would permit speeds of up to 50 miles an hour, which offers more market promise. "We support Bombardier getting the funding because this is a good project for the region and provides a potential for reuse of an urban transit system," said Don Smith, RIDC's president.
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