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Old Posted Feb 9, 2012, 9:31 PM
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Jonboy1983 Jonboy1983 is offline
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I'm surprised nobody posted this regarding the Mt. Lebanon LRT station:

From the PittsburghLive/Tribune-Review website:

Quote:
Mt. Lebanon T station development could be 'big'
By Matthew Santoni
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, February 9, 2012


Developers could create prime real estate in Mt. Lebanon's Uptown business district out of thin air, if engineers' concepts for a deck above the Port Authority light-rail line come to fruition.

Under a contract with the municipality, engineers from Los Angeles-based AECOM have been studying how to utilize air rights Mt. Lebanon owns above the rails, perhaps by building on a deck that would cover the tracks. Mt. Lebanon Parking Authority purchased the air rights from the Port Authority in the 1980s. The rights passed to the municipality when it absorbed the Parking Authority last year.

If a developer could be found, the possibilities are big, said Commercial Districts Manager Eric Milliron.

"Until there's a developer, and a market study, and a design of it, we'd be playing Nostradamus," said Milliron, who helped conduct a public meeting last week on the engineers' study. "But what we can know is how big of a Lego set can we build. A developer could do a very big project there."

The study stemmed from Mt. Lebanon's push for "transit-oriented development," which would cluster residential and commercial developments around public transportation to improve the usefulness of both.

AECOM dealt mainly with technical details, such as where support columns would go, which materials to use, and how big the buildings could be above the rails that run behind the central business district. Studies included renderings of a hypothetical development based on the biggest project the site could support.

"It really is the largest opportunity for economic development," Milliron said, noting how few large open parcels are left to build upon in the municipality. "We have a saying around here that 'God isn't going to create any more real estate in Mt. Lebanon.' "

Ideally, the deck could be built over rails from the rear of Potomac Bakery to just outside the exit of the light rail tunnel between Mt. Lebanon and Dormont, level with the alley behind businesses fronting Washington Road. The existing tunnel portal would remain uncovered for ventilation reasons, but the result would be plenty of space for developments along Shady Avenue East, connected to the Uptown corridor with a pedestrian plaza, Milliron said.

Over the existing light-rail station, the deck could be large and sturdy enough to support a 235-car parking garage spanning the tracks, with a revamped train station on its ground level. At the other end of the deck, the densest possible development could include a block of mid-rise offices, retail space or condominiums.

AECOM is not the first agency in the South Hills to envision building above Port Authority's land. For nearly a decade, Lawrenceville-based developer James Aiello Sr. has been exploring building a deck above the park-and-ride lot in Castle Shannon, with a mix of retail and residential buildings on the deck.

Next week, Aiello said he'd meet informally with representatives of the Keystone Oaks School District to discuss possible Tax Increment Financing. That would give the project a tax break and steer the money to build infrastructure, Aiello said. He is focusing on private financing for the $32 million to $35 million development, after trying to get government money.



Read more: Mt. Lebanon T station development could be 'big' - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt...#ixzz1lvFZDNsK
I'd like to see what exactly those renderings looked like. What on earth are developers envisioning for this deck over the LRT stop?!!
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