On Upper Lawrenceville's still-spotty 5200 block of Butler Street, a building fronted with a glass mosaic and one with the partly-painted facade across the street represent the rise and decline of one of Pittsburgh's most successful redevelopment programs.

Behind the explosion of color and texture that greets visitors to Prism Stained Glass toils Catherine Berard, who used the Urban Redevelopment Authority's Streetface program to turn a storefront from plain clapboard into revelation. Back in 2006, she was one of 15 individuals and firms that tapped the program for a total of $607,854, according to data provided by the URA.

The place across the street, where laborers painted last week, is owned by a company managed by Joe Edelstein, whose efforts have won historic preservation awards but have also landed him in hot water with building inspectors and raised contracting questions. This year, the Streetface program has nearly become his preserve, with five of seven grants it has made going to a firm he manages. The program has awarded just $149,050 this year, according to the URA.

"We're still getting a high level of inquiry," said Kyra Straussman, director of real estate for the URA. "We're just not getting as many people going through with the process."

That's due in part to a requirement, imposed by the state, that contractors on Streetface-backed projects of $25,000 or more pay prevailing wages -- rates set by the state that are based on local union contracts. That's "a real buzz-kill," Ms. Straussman said, for some small developers.

Now, thanks to scrutiny of Mr. Edelstein's work, the URA is weighing whether more rules would strengthen the program, or harm it.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, who appoints the URA board members, didn't respond to a request for his views Friday.

The program, launched in 1986, has provided $10.3 million to help fix up more than 1,000 facades. It is only for commercial buildings, and is generally restricted to 19 neighborhood business districts. It pays 40 percent of the cost of the facade work -- or 80 percent in three hard-hit neighborhoods.

It's a subsidy that benefits the neighborhood more than the developer, because the former gets a big image boost, while the latter might see just a marginal increase in rents it can charge, said Kate Trimble, executive director of the Lawrenceville Corp., a nonprofit development group. Her organization and other neighborhood groups have veto power over Streetface grants in their territories.

William Barron used the program twice in 2006 to help renovate Penn Avenue buildings.

"Easy to use? A little bureaucratic," he said last week.

But it's been invaluable, he added. The Streetface program "turned the tide in Lawrenceville."

It's credited with doing the same thing in parts of East Liberty, Highland Park, the Strip District and especially the South Side, where it backed the revamping of 200 storefronts. Ms. Straussman used the program when she was with that neighborhood's development group.

In late 2006, state regulators ruled that since Streetface funds need not be paid back if the borrower keeps the building in good condition for seven years, they are grants, rather than loans. State-backed grants for projects of $25,000 or more trigger the prevailing wage requirement, Ms. Straussman said.

Prevailing wage-rate contracts are significantly higher than those based on nonunion rates.

"I don't use it as regularly today as I did a few years ago, because of the requirement of [paying] prevailing wage," Mr. Barron said.

It hasn't prevented Mr. Edelstein from using the Streetface program through two businesses he manages, Wylie Holdings and 3600 Penn Associates. They got 13 of the 59 Streetface grants made from 2004 through 2006, and seven of 17 since 2007.

"Without his investment and the gamble he's taken on Lawrenceville and the personal investment he's made, [Upper Lawrenceville] would look very different, and not in a very good way," said Ms. Trimble.

Approached at his Butler Street office Thursday, Mr. Edelstein pointed out a wall of awards, across from a walk-in closet full of keys to the scores of properties he manages. He would not answer questions for the record.

A year ago, WTAE-TV reported that Mr. Edelstein was giving the URA and the Bureau of Building Inspection sharply different estimates on the cost of his facade work. The reports generated a city controller's office audit.

The estimates affect the amount of the grants. A $75,000 estimate can qualify the developer for the maximum $30,000 grant. Most of the recent Streetface grants won by firms managed by Mr. Edelstein were accompanied by bids in the range of $75,500 to $78,500.

Usually those estimates come from W. King Builders, which, according to state records, is controlled by Mr. Edelstein's wife and based at her Shadyside home. Since 2004, the Streetface program has written checks totaling $528,222 to Wylie Holdings, 3600 Penn and W. King Builders, according to the URA.

The URA had required that Streetface grants be based on three bids from registered contractors. In recent years, it dropped that requirement for developers that use what Ms. Straussman called "their own contracting companies."

It was senseless to make firms solicit bids when the work was almost certain to go to one firm, Ms. Straussman said. Instead, the URA established benchmark prices for certain types of work. When a developer relies on a bid from a closely-related company, the URA checks the bid against the benchmarks, and sometimes slashes the amount of the grant.

The URA also is wrestling with whether its awards should be tied to enforcement efforts by the city Bureau of Building Inspection. Both agencies are located at 200 Ross St., Downtown, but they haven't always communicated.

At two Butler Street locations a block apart, Mr. Edelstein was sparring with building inspectors over decks built without permits -- in cases that eventually got so contentious they resulted in April hearings before District Judge Ron Costa -- even as the URA was either paying, or authorizing, Streetface grants on the same properties.

"We're sensitive to the fact that we have [building code] rules and regulations here that we're all trying to uphold," said Ms. Straussman. At the same time, the URA doesn't want to make so many rules that no one can get a Streetface grant. The agency is considering asking applicants whether they have outstanding building code violations.

"I think code compliance should certainly be part of Streetface program decision-making," said Ms. Trimble. "People who get development subsidies ... should play by the rules."

Most repeat users of the Streetface program don't have regular run-ins with building inspectors, according to a review of violation records. Some value the fact that the city is overseeing the projects it is funding.

"Thanks to the building inspectors, nobody shortcuts me," said Eddie Lesoon, managing partner of Wedgewood Group, which has used the program repeatedly, mostly along East Liberty's Broad Street. He also has no problem with getting three bids for the work. As for the new prevailing wage requirement, he said he'll probably "bite the bullet and do it anyway."

For all the hassles, the Streetface program is too important to forego, he said.

"It's just transformed East Liberty like you wouldn't believe."