When Tony Williams dreams about Uptown, he doesn't see parking lots.

That's surprising considering that parking has been a big part of his family's business -- and a source of tension in Uptown -- for years.

But to hear Mr. Williams tell it, those days are over. Parking, he said, "means nothing to us. We actually hate parking.

"I want to prove to [critics] I'm not a parking lot guy, I'm an Uptown guy."

The vow can be nothing but good news to the neighborhood, which may be poised for major redevelopment with construction of the new hockey arena and possible expansion by Duquesne University and UPMC Mercy.

If Uptown is to become more than a drive-through to someplace else, it will take the involvement of Sal Williams and his family, including son Tony, who is running the business.

Through Sal Williams Real Estate Investments, the family controls more than 150 parcels of property in the neighborhood, at least by Tony Williams' count. Many of them are located along Fifth Avenue, a prime thoroughfare into Downtown from Oakland.

More than a few of those parcels are parking or vacant lots.

"I think they're pretty important," Jeanne McNutt, chairwoman of the housing and economic development committee of Uptown Partners of Pittsburgh, said of the Williamses. "They obviously control quite a bit of real estate here."

Uptown's dealings with the Williams family haven't always been pleasant. In July, residents and community groups were prepared to battle Williams Real Estate over plans to use 16 properties for parking lots.

In the end, a compromise was reached in which Tony Williams and his father agreed to use the parcels for parking for no longer than six more years. They also said they would pay the city $54,000 for new trees, landscaping and landscaping training to residents.

Mr. Williams said the agreement essentially will put the parking lots out of business. That's OK, he added, because the family never saw parking as the end game, but as a means to an end, that being development.

At times in the past, crime, drugs and prostitution have flourished in Uptown, making redevelopment difficult, he said.

"For a while all you could put here were parking lots. Nobody wanted to come here," he said.

Some are skeptical of the Williams family's professed interest in redeveloping Uptown.

"I'm waiting to see the evidence. "[Sal Williams has] been in the Uptown area for a very long time. There shouldn't be proclamations of what he plans to do. I want to see the evidence," said former city Councilman Sala Udin, who represented Uptown.

Told that the family said it wants to be at the forefront of the green development movement, Mr. Udin replied, "It will be green all right, the color of money."

Mr. Udin, now president and chief executive officer of Coro Center for Civic Leadership in Pittsburgh, said one of his biggest regrets on council was not pressing harder for a proposed moratorium against demolishing buildings for surface parking in Uptown.

"I didn't follow through with it. It was one of the most serious mistakes of my council tenure. It allowed them to continue to demolish and build parking lots and I had been assured they would not do that," he said.

However, some of the Uptown leaders who have fought the Williams family in the past said they are willing to take them at their word.

"I think we all agree it is a new day here. We want to keep things positive, to keep moving forward," Ms. McNutt said. "I believe they really want to develop their properties."

Peter Smerd, Uptown Partners co-president, said he sees sincerity in the family's actions.

Tony Williams, for example, is a member of the Uptown Partners board. Mr. Smerd said the parking settlement will result in 200 trees being planted in the neighborhood, funded by Williams Real Estate.

The Williams family also donated $10,000 toward the Uptown Visioning Project, a new endeavor aimed at creating a road map for future development.

"I see those as good signs," Mr. Smerd said. "Tony Williams is the next generation and he's playing a more active role than his dad did."

Tony Williams said the notion that his family was all about parking is an inaccurate one. He estimates that Williams Real Estate has poured more than $8 million into buying and redeveloping properties over the years.

That includes purchasing, remodeling and later selling a building on Fifth Avenue that is now the headquarters of Orbital Engineering. The company also rehabilitated the former Merchants Savings Bank and Trust on Fifth Avenue and redeveloped a property on Forbes that first housed the Program for Female Offenders and now is headquarters for an eye doctor group.

His father, he said, also has bought suspected crack houses or buildings near collapse and either remodeled or razed them for parking or green space.

For the family to be linked solely to parking lots "is not fair," he said.

"We put our whole life and blood into Uptown. You always get people who criticize. We're the only ones doing anything."

Sal Williams, 80, was born and raised in a row house on Tustin Alley near Mercy Hospital, the oldest of 11 children. He purchased his first property in 1976 on Fifth Avenue for $8,000.

He has had his share of ups and downs over the years. He was identified as a Cosa Nostra associate in a 1991 report by the former Pennsylvania Crime Commission, an affiliation Tony Williams said was "stupid" and inaccurate. He also pleaded guilty to conspiracy and conducting an illegal gambling business in July 1996 and served nine months in federal prison.

City Councilwoman Tonya Payne, who now represents Uptown and who received campaign contributions from the owners of Williams Real Estate in 2005, spoke highly of Sal Williams.

As ex-president of the Uptown Community Action Group, Ms. Payne said the organization sometimes turned to him to buy problem properties and tear them down when the city wouldn't.

"He's definitely good for Uptown and he's always been," she said. "He's always been a friend to the Uptown Community Action Group. That's the truth. If I said anything else, I'd be lying on this man."

The Williams family may have plenty of opportunities to prove its sincerity.

That's because Uptown finally may be ready to escape the twin shadows of Downtown and Oakland, thanks to a convergence of powerful forces that could reshape the gritty neighborhood.

The new arena scheduled to open in 2010 could anchor Uptown's west end. On Forbes Avenue, Duquesne University already has built the $35 million Power Center, which includes a state-of-the-art rec center and a Barnes & Noble bookstore, and has future expansion plans. UPMC is mulling a possible expansion at Mercy Hospital that could include a new tower.

The growth of UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh in Oakland has left little room to expand there. To some, that leaves Uptown as a next logical step for those institutions.

"It's an untapped resource just waiting to be used," Mr. Smerd said.

Just what will become of Uptown will be the subject of a meeting Wednesday sponsored by Uptown Partners, Oakland Planning and Development Corp. and the Hill House Economic Development Corp. as part of the visioning project.

They have invited Uptown institutions, business owners, employees, students and others to share their views at the forum, which will run from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at Life's Work, 1323 Forbes Ave.

Linda Metropulos, of Metropulos Development, which is helping to lead the visioning project, hopes it will produce a plan that can be used to guide development over the next five to 10 years. She wants to have a final rendition by April.

"This is a really good time for Uptown. It's a natural place for development because it is the corridor between Oakland and Downtown. Oakland is pretty much saturated," Duquesne University President Charles Dougherty said.

Mr. Dougherty said Duquesne has plans eventually to redevelop a parking lot on the east side of the Power Center for academic or housing uses, with street-level retail. It's also converting a Fifth Avenue building across from the new arena into a community wellness center that will offer services free or at a "very low cost."

Penguins President David Morehouse sees potential for the arena having the same kind of impact on Uptown as the Verizon Center, which turned a blighted, crime-infested section of Washington, D.C., into a thriving entertainment and retail district.

Others see a mix of retail, office and residential development in Uptown, geared toward Downtown workers, doctors, nurses and professors as well as students.

Property acquisition may not be an issue. The Williams family, the city and the Urban Redevelopment Authority control well over 200 parcels in Uptown and the Lower Hill. Based on URA records, the city owns more than 150 parcels and the redevelopment authority nearly 50.

One key focus likely will be the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Colwell and Dinwiddie streets, where a number of the property holdings intersect. It is seen as a residential hub.

Tony Williams has his own ideas for redevelopment, though he said he will defer to the outcome of the visioning project before making any moves. He already has plans for a $1 million building at the corner of Fifth and Pride that would feature a restaurant, office space, apartments and a rooftop deck.

Across the street in a vacant lot, he sees a boutique hotel or apartment building. Near the arena on two parking lots, he wants to develop high-end restaurants.

But for Mr. Williams, the centerpiece rests on a hillside along Colwell Street near the Birmingham Bridge. There, on family-owned property, he wants to develop solar-powered, zero-emissions apartments or condos.

The perch offers magnificent views of the South Side and the Downtown skyline.

"This is the catalytic project that connects everything," he said on a recent day as he gushed over the views. "I'm in love."

It's a $30 million project, by his own estimate, but one that could put Uptown on the map like never before -- and perhaps even help change a family's reputation. Even in the troubled economy, it's a challenge worth accepting, Mr. Williams said.

"At the end of the day, it's not how much money you had in the bank, but what impact you've had on the city of Pittsburgh," he said.