Council favors tax break for South Oakland garages Council favors tax break for South Oakland garagesIf we are going to turn this city around, it can't be with big give-a-ways for all the wrong reasons. This is a legacy project that was rushed to the table because others are not watching. Now that Jim Ferlo is on the URA Board, I wonder if these types of deals are going to get cut?
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh City Council gave its initial, unanimous nod today to a tax plan that would support construction of three parking garages in South Oakland's Pittsburgh Technology Center.
The garages would serve proposed new lab and office buildings, the first of which could be under construction by the end of the year, said Urban Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Jerome Dettore.
'The goal is to really develop that a lot more densely,' said Mr. Dettore, referring to the Technology Center. The three-garage plan 'allows a little more than 1 million square feet of new, additional lab and office space.'
My next stop, the Act 47 Coordinators and the I.C.A. Board.
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Council favors tax break for South Oakland garages
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh City Council gave its initial, unanimous nod today to a tax plan that would support construction of three parking garages in South Oakland's Pittsburgh Technology Center.
The garages would serve proposed new lab and office buildings, the first of which could be under construction by the end of the year, said Urban Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Jerome Dettore.
"The goal is to really develop that a lot more densely," said Mr. Dettore, referring to the Technology Center. The three-garage plan "allows a little more than 1 million square feet of new, additional lab and office space."
Developer Madison Acquisition Co. must soon decide whether to exercise an option to build a 160,000-square-foot lab and office building, but the existing surface parking isn't enough.
Over several years, the URA would build some $43.3 million in infrastructure, including the garages with 2,200 total spaces, using tax-increment financing proceeds, state funds and money borrowed from banks.
Under the TIF, the URA would steer 60 percent of property and parking tax revenue generated by new development on the site into the garage development.
The TIF has been been approved by Allegheny County Council and the Pittsburgh Public Schools board, which would join the city in foregoing revenue, said a URA official. It requires only a final vote of City Council, set for Tuesday.
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