Blueroof Technologies, a McKeesport nonprofit, presented city officials this week with a plan to develop an "independence zone" that they said would see McKeesport grow as a leading independent living community for senior citizens in the state.

The organization built a model home in McKeesport last year and displayed how a two-story, wood-frame house could be converted into a hi-tech home designed to enhance independent living for the disabled and elderly. Now it is proposing to build at least 20 such homes in McKeesport in the next few years.

The project will be the foundation of a research and development campus known as the Blueroof Smart Cottage Research and Development Center, Blueroof Executive Director John Bertoty said.

"We already have a model house in the zone," Mr. Bertoty said. "We're now looking at how we can expand on what we have already shown we can do to create an independent living community."

The proposed McKeesport Independence Zone will be a 10-acre development in the city's 3rd Ward, stretching from Walnut and Jenny Lind streets to Penny Street and Wigham Avenue.

Blueroof, which has partnered with the Quality of Life Technology Center, a collaboration between Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh that is dedicated to researching quality of life issues, plans to build a "cluster community" of cottages in McKeesport that are affordable and equipped with the technology to meet the needs of challenged individuals, Mr. Bertoty said.

He said the ideal candidates for the housing would include veterans with disabilities, people living in group homes, senior citizens and disabled college students who could live in a small dormitory that would be built in the zone.

Some of the key features of the homes will include sun-clean windows, tankless hot water systems, wireless network coverage and home automation controllers.

But while much of the conceptual layout of the zone has been done, the project is still a long way from becoming a reality, Mr. Bertoty said.

"This is not something that will happen overnight," he said, noting that Blueroof had partnered with a number of city and Allegheny County departments and other area companies, which will have to provide much of the funding for the project.

At the moment, Mr. Bertoty said, Blueroof officials don't know how much the entire project will cost or how long it will take to get off the ground.

"This project ties in a great deal of resources that McKeesport already has, but we are also working on partnering with as many entities as possible to make this a reality," he said.

David Ruppersberger, president and chief executive officer of the Technology Collaborative, a consortium with a membership of 55 companies, said the collaborative was eager to fund the Blueroof project because "it's a grand idea."

"We are always interested in entities that can show that they have a test bed for technologies and how they can commercialize that technology," Mr. Ruppersberger said.

He said that, in addition to funding Blueroof, three Technology Collaborative companies, including Robert Bosch Corp., Phillips Applied Technology and Seagate Technology, have agreed to partner with the McKeesport nonprofit in getting its project off the ground.

"We are very excited about this program," McKeesport Administrator Dennis Pittman said.

"Blueroof wants to make McKeesport a working laboratory for research and development, and that is something we are excited to see," he said.