Could a Trader Joe's be coming to Washington Road in Mt. Lebanon? That's the question around town after a developer asked Mt. Lebanon commissioners if he could buy some Parking Authority land for a mystery retailer.

Jim DiGregory, a developer and former member of the Mt. Lebanon Economic Development Council, asked Monday if he could buy a parcel of Mt. Lebanon Parking Authority land because he had interest from a retailer who wanted a South Hills address. He said he needed six months to make the deal happen, but he would probably know in about 120 days whether he would have the retailer on board.

Trader Joe's is a California-based grocery chain known for reasonably priced gourmet foods and a quirky ambience that loyal customers embrace with cultlike devotion. The chain is expected to put its first Pittsburgh-area store into the Wheeler Paint building on Penn Avenue in East Liberty.

Neither a spokeswoman for Trader Joe's nor Mr. DiGregory would confirm that the Mt. Lebanon land is a prospective site for another of the chain's stores.

The land he wants is called Parcel A, but is better known by the public as the 15,000-square-foot parking lot next to the Howard Hanna office on Washington Road. That land had been slated for a hotel, but that project fell through years ago, as did several others. The Parking Authority still uses it as a parking lot but once its new lot is open on Academy Avenue, it might not need those spaces.

Mr. DiGregory would not disclose what he has offered, but he said the Parking Authority would not be required to put the land out for bid.

"It is important to us to move quickly," he said. "Our goal is to do something in the short term."

If the deal goes through, construction could start in the middle of next year.

The site is near the light rail transit station where public officials have proposed a public-private partnership for development which could combine residential components with retail and office uses.

It is still too early to tell if the commission and the authority will allow Mr. DiGregory to buy the land and continue to court the mystery retailer.

"To me, this doesn't sound like a good project. It sounds fantastic," Commissioner Dale Colby said at the meeting, where the retailer's name did not come up.

Commissioner David Humphreys said the board would have to vote at a subsequent public meeting on whether it would make a recommendation to the authority.

Meanwhile, Trader Joe's is saying it doesn't have plans for the site.

"At this time, Mt. Lebanon is not in Trader Joe's two-year plan," said Alison Mochizuki, director of national publicity for Trader Joe's. She would not say if a new store automatically goes to the end of that plan or if it could appear on the plan for the nearer future.

"We don't disclose our real estate practices," she said.

The developer isn't talking. Mr. DiGregory and his consultant, Kevin Langholz, of the commercial real estate company Langholz Wilson Ellis, said they had a confidentiality agreement with the retailer and couldn't reveal the name or the nature of the business except to say it is a "lifestyle speciality retailer."

After the meeting, Mr. DiGregory and Mr. Langholz said the retailer planned to have more than one Pittsburgh area store, although it doesn't have any yet.

The East Liberty Trader Joe's is scheduled to open this year.

The retailer being courted by Mr. DiGregory would take 10,000 to 12,000 square feet with parking to be constructed under the building, with access around the back on Parse Way. Trader Joe's stores typically average 10,000 square feet to 15,000 square feet, Ms. Mochizuki said.

Mr. DiGregory is president of Mt. Lebanon Partnership, a community development corporation. His company, Hawk Development Corp., recently developed a First Commonwealth Bank on Mt. Lebanon Boulevard.