Pittsburgh's largest bank intends to build another public park Downtown, filling a triangular-shaped plot at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Liberty Avenue with benches and drought-resistant plants and encouraging people to bring their dogs there.

Executives presented the idea before PNC Financial Services Group's annual meeting yesterday, held Downtown at One PNC Plaza.

It brings "greenery to an area where there isn't a lot," said Gary Saulson, the bank's director of corporate real estate. "We see it as a another reason for people to move Downtown."

Mr. Saulson envisions the park as a place where people can "go relax and read a book," eat lunch or walk their pets. In fact, "poop bags" will be available there via dispensers, he said.

The bank did not disclose the cost of the park, which is still being designed. But PNC, which last year opened a park on First Avenue across from its PNC Firstside Center, will pay for the park and maintain it, Mr. Saulson said. The company also expects the site, currently a construction staging area for the 23-story Three PNC Plaza, to remain on the tax rolls.

Three PNC Plaza is due to be completed in the fall of 2009. The park probably won't be ready until 2010.

PNC also said yesterday that the price of Three PNC has risen to $200 million, up from an estimate of $178 million given last year, but the $48 million in public support for the project will not go up. Mr. Saulson attributed the increase to higher construction costs linked to the rising price of oil and updates to others parts of the project, including a hotel to be run by Toronto-based Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.

PNC is paying for all increases, Mr. Saulson said.

At the same time, PNC also is starting work on a new 350,000-square-foot office building in Washington, D.C., only two blocks from the White House. The building will house a regional headquarters for PNC, which entered the nation's capital with a 2005 acquisition of Riggs Bank and last year's purchase of Mercantile Bankshares Corp. The new building is on the same site as the old Riggs headquarters, which is being demolished. Vornado Realty Trust is a partner in the project.

PNC mentioned the D.C. regional headquarters at yesterday's annual meeting, which focused as much attention on the company's environmentally friendly building practices as its 2007 results (adjusted net income of $1.7 billion was higher than 2006's adjusted $1.5 billion).

Shareholder Lois Kreitzer asked PNC Chief Executive Officer James Rohr about a decline in the value of commercial mortgages being held for sale, which affected PNC's performance in the fourth quarter of 2007 and first quarter of 2008. Mr. Rohr assured her that the drop had more to do with market volatility than the underlying credit of the loans.

"We fully expect to get fully paid on those mortgages," he said.

Mr. Rohr also assured shareholder Philip Wiener that "we do have cookies" -- referring to a back table stocked with baked goods and coffee. Mr. Wiener complained at last year's annual meeting about the lack of cookies; this year, he looked pleased.