For years, a number of the 30 some properties owned by the Levitske Brothers firm along a 1.5-mile stretch of Route 51 from the city line to Whitehall have stood as deteriorating, empty eyesores.

That blight along one of the main thoroughfares through the South Hills has been a major source of frustration for both local and county officials.

But now there's a turnabout in the works for the corridor.

Linda Dunlap and her brother Drew Levitske, who assumed control of the Levitske Brothers firm after the 2004 death of their father Andrew, have announced they want to renovate, and lease the properties and turn their stretch of Route 51, also known as Saw Mill Run Boulevard, into a thriving retail corridor.

They've signed with the commercial real estate firm CB Richard Ellis to market the bulk of the properties for lease and they've had plans drawn up for major new development near the intersection of Route 51 and Greenlee Road, plans they soon hope to take to the Brentwood planning commission.

Those plans include a fast food restaurant and a family-style restaurant similar to a Bob Evans and a bank. Initially, the Levitskes had hoped to have an Applebee's restaurant at the site, but the chain is considering a site in Bethel Park instead.

"I've been involved with Brentwood for 35 years and this is absolutely the best news I've heard in that 35 years," said Mayor Ken Lockhart. "Linda Dunlap and her brother Drew have really done a complete flip from what their dad was doing. They are really getting with the program and helping to develop Brentwood."

The development plans for the Route 51 and Greenlee Road area have been slowed by the fact that the Levitske firm was recently told by PennDot that it must install another traffic light on Route 51 in the vicinity of the development.

Mrs. Dunlap and Mr. Levitske said one such example of what they'd like to do along Route 51 is located in a strip center they own just north of their business headquarters at 3000 Saw Mill Run Boulevard. In that center, a chiropractor has opened an office and gym in a renovated space with a new facade.

"We sort of want to move forward. We are doing a lot of remodeling, putting up new storefronts and new windows and doors," Mrs. Dunlap said.

"We're doing some of the improvements now and then others will take place when the tenants come," Mr. Levitske said.

The brother and sister said they envision what is now a blighted section of Route 51 becoming one that is sprinkled with hair salons, take-out food establishments, banks and other retail outlets and perhaps medical offices.

"Our hope is that all of the properties would be filled," Mrs. Dunlap said.

John Slater, a Brentwood funeral home operator and the head of Economic Development South, said he also is pleased with the Levitske firm's plans for Route 51 and is hoping to include a bike trail in the mix.

Mr. Slater said he's been in discussion Mrs. Dunlap and Mr. Levitske about including a bike trail either in front of or behind businesses on Route 51. That trail, he said, then could connect with Streets Run Road and eventually with the trail along the river on the South Side.

Mrs. Dunlap said part of the reason it's taken this long to start to market the properties is that the firm has concentrated on selling nine parcels in other communities in the South Hills and clearing other buildings of the items her father had stored in them.

Last week, she was trying to find homes for large carts on wheels her father apparently purchased whenever the former Gimbels store downtown closed. Earlier, she found a fold-up stage in one of the buildings.

The Levitske firm owns other properties throughout the South Hills and some are for sale, including seven wooded acres behind the area they hope to develop at Greenlee and Route 51 and some small buildings on Route 88 in Bethel Park.

Several years ago, they sold some Bethel Park property across from the intersection of Paxton Drive and Route 88, where a car wash now sits.

The current generation of the Levitske family said their philosophy about how to manage the properties is different from their father's. The daughter and son made a point of saying they were not criticizing their father.

The Levitske Brothers firm is credited with developing much of Route 51 in the South Hills in the 1950s and 1960s, but in later years, the senior Andrew Levitske was described in news stories as someone who became difficult to negotiate with.

As a result in recent decades, clients apparently weren't able to reach lease agreements and many of the properties sat empty or were used to store junk. The elder Andrew Levistke also spent time as a junk dealer.

Steve Esposito, a senior vice president with CB Richard Ellis who is marketing the Levitske properties, said he is "absolutely excited" about marketing them and believes there is a pent up demand for commercial space along Route 51.

He said the development of Brentwood Towne Square is a good example of that. The rear of the shopping center sits across from some of the properties that Levitske Brothers is trying to lease.

"In the past when I had clients interested in Route 51, we just kind of ignored it because you knew it wasn't going to be easy to do something," he said. "But Linda and Drew are very inclined to do things. I think that in the stretches we are working on, there is going to be interest, though it will be tempered, given the state of the economy."

Mr. Esposito said one advantage the Levitske properties have to offer to retailers is the ability for customers to pull up the door and enter the establishments, rather than walking around a large shopping center.

"It's all about convenience these days," he said. "The Levitske stuff is all very prominent and very accessible and very visible."

And, because the properties are located on a bus line, it should be easy to get employees to the sites, he said.

The mayor said he shares Mr. Esposito's enthusiasm.

"I think once they start to develop that down there, it will take off like wildfire," Mr. Lockhart said.