A development partnership with offices in Pine, Chicago and Fort Myers, Fla. announced plans today for a major redevelopment of a three-block area on the Shadyside-Bloomfield border, replacing the Don Allen Auto City site with a mix of townhouses, condominiums, a 120-room hotel, office, medical and retail space.

DOC-Economou, which is also planning a $48 million hotel-condo-retail project on the South Side, unveiled its plans for the property along Baum Boulevard and Liberty Avenue a week after the family that owns Don Allen told employees about its plans to sell the 7-acre auto dealership.

The partnership intends to spend $18 million buying the dealership, a home on South Atlantic Avenue and a site on Baum owned by The Children's Home. The entire project will cost $220-230 million and may take a total of four years to complete, built in phases to minimize the impact on the surrounding neighborhoods. The Voelker family, which controls Don Allen, will become a minority partner in the new development.

The goal is to start site preparation work this summer, pending city approval. All of the auto dealership buildings would be demolished, said DOC-Economou principal John Economou.

The project partners acknowledge that they hope to secure public financing to assist with the project, although they were not willing today to specify what type or how much.

"We certainly want to have open lines with local and state officials to see what options are there to produce the best possible project," said Phil Hugh, a principal with DOC-Economou and originally from Fairchance, Fayette County.

Added Paul O'Rourke, a spokesman for the development partnership: "Any development of this size you need a public-private partnership."

DOC-Economou's $48 million project at SouthSide Works is being built with private money only, although the one-acre site was purchased from the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority.

The Shadyside development, spanning three blocks, will include 350,000 square feet of "boutique" retail, 58,000 square feet of street-level "commercial" retail, 300,000 square feet of office and medical space and a nine-story, 120-room hotel with the upper levels reserved for 150 condos and townhomes. Between 1,200 and 1,500 spaces of parking will be on the lower levels, mostly underground.

Once complete, the complex could employ 600 to 800 part- and full-time workers, according to the development partners.

A new triangular park bordered by Liberty, Baum and South Aiken Avenue will also be part of the new project.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.