Braddock Borough may not be in a position to turn down a redevelopment plan for the former UPMC hospital building, which could yield the borough as much as $450,000 over five years, state officials said on Thursday.

"I don't think Braddock should make a knee-jerk reaction with respect to its finances," said Michael Foreman, a local government policy specialist for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.

His comments came as Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. questioned the redevelopment plan outlined this week by County Executive Dan Onorato. Mr. Zappala met with some borough officials yesterday to talk about alternative plans.

The state's Community and Economic Development Department oversees the Act 47 program for financially distressed communities, which was enacted in 1987. Braddock was one of the first few communities to be designated.

Since then, the borough has been under state financial supervision, from which it is yet to emerge.

And because of that, Braddock borough officials have to consider the implications of turning down revenue that could impact their budgets in the long run, said Mr. Foreman.

Under Act 47, the state can accept or reject a financially distressed community's plans for economic development where its finances are concerned. In other words, the state could compel Braddock to accept the plan Mr. Onorato presented on Tuesday.

Under that plan, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center would pay to demolish the hospital building, perhaps as early as June, and then the county would put out requests for proposals for private developers to construct a multi-use office complex that, unlike a hospital, would be subject to borough property taxes.

In the complex would be 90 housing units for senior citizens, space for doctors' offices -- essentially the expansion of the Braddock Family Health Center -- and classrooms for job training offered through the Community College of Allegheny County.

UPMC also would pay Braddock $90,000 a year for five years as payment in lieu of wage taxes that its employees who lived in the borough paid. But the borough's council members said on Wednesday that they are opposed to the plan, even at the risk of losing the payments from the hospital system.

Mr. Foreman said state officials are waiting to see "how this process plays out," before they take a position on what Braddock ought to do with regard to the reuse of the former hospital.

"I don't believe there is a final settlement yet. We have to see what the final terms of the proposal are and what the impacts are. We are concerned about the closure of the hospital and its implications on the finances of the borough and its tax base," said Mr. Foreman.

Meanwhile, Mr. Zappala met with some Braddock council members on Thursday to explore other options for the reuse of the former hospital building.

Speaking from outside the Braddock Borough building before holding closed-door talks with Council President Jesse Brown and Councilwoman Tina Doose, Mr. Zappala said he doesn't believe the county plan that has been presented so far is sufficient.

For example, Mr. Zappala said, the expansion of the Braddock Family Health Center, which under the county plan would be the main health care facility in the borough, is not enough because it would not offer emergency medical services.

"We can do a lot better than a clinic for this community," Mr. Zappala said. Instead, he said that he envisions an emergency medical facility that would provide more services than a primary care physician's office.

Such a facility, coupled with other tenants like CCAC, Point Park University or the county's health department offices, would fill up the hospital building, thereby ensuring that it does not have to be torn down, he said.

What is more, Mr. Zappala said, his proposal would compliment what his office has been doing to clean up the crime and blight in Braddock in recent years. In 2008, the district attorney's office was part of a wide operation by federal and state agents that netted more than 100 drug and gang arrests in the borough.

He said he has scheduled a meeting with Mr. Onorato next week to come up with a plan the community can embrace, he said.

In a statement, Mr. Onorato said the redevelopment proposal he put forward was crafted after a two-month public process in Braddock.

"The plan that I presented on Tuesday was the community's plan," Mr. Onorato said.

"If other groups or individuals have other financially viable plans for the facility, we encourage them to bring them forward."

Mr. Brown and Ms. Doose could not be reached for comment on their talks with Mr. Zappala.

Braddock Mayor John Fetterman, who endorsed the plan forwarded by Mr. Onorato, said Mr. Zappala has never approached him to talk about reusing the former hospital building.

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