Forget the credit crunch. There's more boom on the way for East Liberty.

The city's Urban Redevelopment Authority board heard plans yesterday for not one, not two, but three new hotels -- more than 350 rooms in all -- targeted for the heart of the neighborhood's commercial corridor.

Governor's Hotel Co. LP plans to build a 140-room Hotel Indigo at North Highland Avenue and Broad Street with the help of a $2.75 million Pittsburgh Development Fund loan approved by the board.

About two blocks away, HSH Liberty Suites LP is proposing to convert the Highland Building, a national historic landmark, into a 105-room Homewood Suites hotel and to build a 113-room Hampton Inn adjacent to it as part of a $42 million development.

The $21.4 million Hotel Indigo project involves the use of East Liberty's former Governor's Hotel and other existing buildings as well as new construction. The developer hopes to break ground in March and open the hotel on May 1, 2010. The development fund loan was the last piece of financing needed for the project, URA officials said.

Governor's Hotel Co. will seek a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, silver certification for the project. It is planning to incorporate a public plaza and patio with a permeable pavement that would allow all rainwater runoff to drain back into the ground as well as a green roof and other environmentally friendly features.

The limited-service boutique hotel will be managed by InterContinental Hospitality Group, which also operates Holiday Inns, Staybridge and Candlewood Suites and Crowne Plazas. The developer also is planning street-level restaurant and retail space.

Hotel Indigo is geared more toward affluent audiences and features rooms with oversized beds, hardwood-style floors with area rugs, and spa-style showers. Cindy A. Murphy, InterContinental vice president of operations, said no two Hotel Indigos are alike, with each having different interior designs.

"What you see in Pittsburgh, you won't see in Miami, you won't see in Chicago," she said.

Room rates in Pittsburgh will range from $140 to $150 a night.

"It's an extremely exciting project," said URA board member Jim Ferlo, a state senator from Highland Park. "This is exactly what's needed to put a power punch [into the East Liberty commercial corridor]."

The URA board, meanwhile, approved the sale of the Highland Building, at 116 S. Highland Ave., and vacated Baum Square to HSH Liberty Suites for $1,000 to help facilitate the Homewood Suites and Hampton Inn hotels.

HSH Liberty is a partnership between Zambrano Corp., which assisted in the development of the 151 First Side condominium tower, Downtown, and Vista Host, a hotel operator and developer with two Hampton Inns in the Pittsburgh market.

They are taking over the properties from Terminus Real Estate Inc., which had plans to turn the Highland Building into 84 condo units.

While the Highland Building, built by industrialist Henry Clay Frick in 1910, will be converted into a Homewood Suites, the adjacent Stadterman Building will be demolished and replaced with a 200-space parking garage, with the seven-story Hampton Inn built on top of it.

Eugene Zambrano III, president of Zambrano Development, said the project is still in the "very early stages." He said the plan is to begin the demolition of the Stadterman Building in the first quarter of 2009, with construction to follow.

Financing is expected to include historic tax credits, new markets tax credits, private equity and debt. Mr. Zambrano said he believes he can secure the financing despite the credit crisis facing the nation.

"I don't think we would be here today if we weren't confident that we could get financing on both projects," he said.

The three East Liberty hotels would supplement a fourth planned on nearby Penn Avenue as part of the $113 million transformation of the former Nabisco bakery into a mixed use complex.

It may seem like an awful lot of rooms for such a compact space, but URA officials said yesterday marketing studies have indicated that the area can support up to 450 rooms.

The hotels hope to draw from the various medical institutions in the area, including the Hillman Cancer Center and nearby hospitals. Because the hotels each offer different amenities, levels of service and price ranges, studies indicate they can co-exist, said Robert Rubinstein, the URA's economic development director.

URA board members also took preliminary steps yesterday to advance roughly $2 million in tax increment financing for the Centre Avenue, Penn Circle and Highland Avenue section of East Liberty to help with public improvements, such as new sidewalks, streetlights and trees.