Collier Crossing, a retail and office project proposed for a site along Interstate 79 in the South Hills, has stymied more than one developer. Maybe this time will be the charm now that a real estate company connected with O'Hara grocer Giant Eagle has become the latest to work on the site known for the longtime presence of Trader Jack's Flea Market.

"I wish you more success than the previous developers," joked the moderator at a Downtown gathering of retailers and real estate brokers yesterday.

Nobody at the annual International Council of Shopping Centers meeting at the Westin Convention Center needed to be told real estate development is a long-term business that can be sidetracked by road projects, financing issues and an economic slowdown that makes luring tenants more challenging.

There were presentations by a developer who is finally making progress on a project he's wanted to do along McKnight Road in McCandless since the early 1990s and by another working on the Settlers Ridge project in Robinson that an executive began dreaming up 20 years ago.

There was blunt talk, too, that $4-a-gallon gas is changing thinking about retail development. The dramatic rise in fuel prices may mean fewer projects will be done in the future but they'll be bigger projects that serve more needs, said Drew Gorman, a managing director of Faison Enterprises, which is involved in Settlers Ridge.

"You're talking about the way people conduct their lives, where they're going to live," he said, noting that an employee of a major mall operator recently told him she's trying to get a grocery store into all of her company's centers.

Still, there was no lack of Pittsburgh-area development to talk about.

Anthony Dolan noted Walnut Capital's Bakery Square project, an almost 500,000-square-foot mixed-used project using the former Nabisco plant in East Liberty, sits along mass transit routes in a heavily populated area. He said the grand opening would come in September 2009.

Condos and apartments may be the most important element of the Millcraft Industries' mixed-used projects along Fifth and Forbes avenues, Downtown, said company executive Lucas Piatt. Millcraft expects to make significant progress on its mixed-used overhaul of the former Lazarus department store and the former G.C. Murphy store in the next year.

The Newbury Market project planned along Interstate 79 and Route 50 in South Fayette would put more than 900,000 square feet of retail and office space next to new homes and apartments, said Brett Malky, president of EQA Landmark Properties. The project, which should see store openings in 2010, will use sustainable design.

Not far away, in Collier, developers hope to break ground next year on a 650,000-square-foot project that could be anchored by Target, Kohl's and Giant Eagle, all of which have been sent proposals, said Bruce Haney, managing director of Echo Real Estate.

Meanwhile, Mr. Gorman noted the 650,000-square-foot Settlers Ridge project will feature both a movie theater and a nearly 150,000-square-foot version of the more upscale Market District stores that Giant Eagle has been experimenting with.