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Friday, February 22, 2002

By Judy Laurinatis

Efforts to lure a Wal-Mart store to the East Hills have apparently been revived.

This time, Allegheny County, Penn Hills and Pittsburgh will put up $1.05 million in low-income housing rehabilitation money to improve the city neighborhood on the western boundary of the former East Hills Shopping Center now known as Eastgate Commons.

Officials of Wal-Mart made improving the surrounding neighborhood a requirement before they would commit to the project, said Penn Hills Mayor William DeSantis. Penn Hills council agreed Wednesday to commit $350,000 as its one-third share for upgrading Second East Hills, which has problems with deteriorating housing stock and crime.

If the neighborhood is upgraded, Wal-Mart will build a store, DeSantis said. Wal-Mart officials, however, could not be reached for comment.

The 44-acre site was a once-thriving shopping center at Robinson Boulevard and Frankstown Road. About 74 percent of the property is in Penn Hills, 24 percent in Wilkinsburg and 1 percent in Pittsburgh. The municipalities and the three school districts involved have agreed to split any new tax revenue from the site according to the amount of property each owns no matter which part of the site is developed.

County officials, though, were more cautious about the reasons for the request.

Earl Hord, the county's director of economic development, said he doesn't know specifics about any retailer moving in, including Wal-Mart, but is aware of the impression the neighborhood has left on some potential tenants.

"We have been advised that some major retailers are concerned," he said.

Since Allegheny County has committed $2.5 million in grants to revitalize the site, it's in the best interests of the county and the municipalities to upgrade the neighborhood, Hord said

The money Penn Hills and Pittsburgh are being asked to contribute is federal money given to the municipalities through the Housing Opportunities Made Easy program. That cash would be matched by Allegheny County on behalf of Wilkinsburg, the third municipality the shopping center straddles.

The county intends to hire New York-based Telesis Co. to handle the renovations because it has done "some difficult areas in Washington, D.C., and New York City" in its renovation projects, said Hord.

John Dowling, spokesman for the county's Department of Economic Development, referred questions about negotiations with specific retailers to Connie Balthrop, CEO of Operation Nehemiah, the center's developer and a nonprofit affiliate of Petra Ministries, owner of the center. Balthrop could not be reached for comment.

Petra has owned the site since 1999, but the shopping center has been on a long, slow decline since the 1960s when it had 60 shops and a Joseph Horne Co. department store.

Today, there's very little left.

A majority of the buildings were razed last fall when the county gave Petra a grant to demolish buildings and relocate tenants in order to get plans moving at the site.

Penn Hills officials insist that Wal-Mart was interested in the site as long as three years ago when Allegheny County was ready to acquire the property and a high-profile developer was to be tapped to get the space filled.

When the county let its sales agreement expire, Petra bought the shopping center with a $1.67 million mortgage. The move upset county officials at the time, who were concerned Petra lacked the experience to handle such a major development project.

Judy Laurinatis is a free-lance writer.