The city's Urban Redevelopment Authority moved yesterday to acquire the last of the properties needed for the proposed African-American Cultural Center near the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

At its meeting, the URA board gave Executive Director Mulugetta Birru authority to purchase six properties in the 900 block of Liberty Avenue.

Those transactions would supplement the four other properties the URA already has acquired in the triangle-shaped block in support of the $33 million cultural center.

He said the six acquisitions he got authority to move ahead on yesterday probably will cost up to $3.5 million. The total cost of land acquired for the project will be about $4.5 million.

The properties in the 900 block of Liberty include a parking lot, two vacant buildings, a restaurant, a striptease club, an adult bookstore, and two lots where buildings were demolished in 2002.

City Council accepted the redevelopment plans for the block last summer, giving the URA the power to use eminent domain, if necessary, to seize the properties.

Birru said the owners of the parking lot are willing to sell, although two others in the block have not responded to URA inquiries. He added he is hoping to negotiate purchases with all of the property owners.

"They haven't said no," he said.

The URA hopes to acquire all properties needed for the center by May.

Birru said he also has received inquiries from investors interested in building an upscale 130- to 135-room hotel above the cultural center and a four-star restaurant as part of the complex.

Officials affiliated with the center are now in the silent phase of a capital campaign to raise money for the project, which also would rely heavily on public investment for construction and operations.

Neil Barclay, the cultural center's president and chief executive officer, said he was "very confident" that officials would raise the money needed to bring the project to fruition.

"We have not had any problem whatsoever about fund raising," he said. "We're very pleased with the way it has been going so far."

Barclay hopes to break ground on the four-story, 80,000-square-foot building by next February.

The cultural center would have exhibits and performances related to black history in Pittsburgh. There are also plans for computerized classrooms, artists' studios, and a music cafe that would function as a cabaret of sorts.

Its sponsors see it not only as a showcase for black history but as a tourist destination that would fit nicely with the new convention center and the theaters, galleries, and restaurants in the cultural district.

"This is not about black folks. This is about our region," said Urban League of Pittsburgh President and CEO Esther Bush, who attended yesterday's URA meeting.

"It is extremely important that we continue to add destinations for people visiting us."