The partnership seeking a 50-year lease of Pittsburgh parking garages and meters pledged Tuesday to bring jobs, a regional headquarters, improved parking facilities and charitable donations to a city skittish about private management.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management of New York and Connecticut-based LAZ Parking Ltd. said they would spend $440 million on capital upgrades to the city's garages and metered parking system over the life of the lease, including $90 million in the first seven to 10 years.

They said the overhaul of at least three garages would add 1,800 parking spaces Downtown and bring motorists new conveniences, such as window-washing stations and battery jump-starts.

Motorists would be able to pay by credit card, pre-paid card and cell phone, and the would-be operators said they'd establish a website, hot line and "street team" to help the public adjust to a privately managed parking system.

One of the nation's largest parking operators, LAZ also plans to open a regional headquarters in town, settle a regional vice president here and create about 50 jobs. It would inherit another 80 or so workers from the city parking authority.

"Don't worry," LAZ Chairman and CEO Alan B. Lazowski said when asked what he'd say to merchants worried that parking rate increases would hurt business. Improved parking facilities, he said, should mitigate driver angst about price hikes.

The highest of three bidders, the J.P. Morgan-LAZ team offered a one-time, upfront payment of $452 million for the half-century lease. A City Council study said the garages and meters could net the concessionaire about $2.4 billion over the 50 years.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl wants council to approve the deal by Nov. 1 so he can pump at least $200 million of the proceeds into the troubled pension fund and keep it out of state hands.

Mr. Lazowski and J.P. Morgan officials introduced themselves at a news conference Tuesday, even as council continued to examine other options for boosting the pension fund.

Later in the day, council kicked off a series of public hearings on the lease plan and alternatives.

Only about 10 residents attended the hearing in the West End, and only two spoke. Sheraden resident Marciana Rossi warned that meter increases would cripple Downtown businesses; Pete Wagner, Beechview business owner and 19th Ward Democratic chairman, said he was concerned about the impact of parking rate increases on businesses citywide.

"We can't get people to come to our businesses if in fact it's not going to be a competitive situation with the suburbs," Mr. Wagner said.

Council will hold additional hearings on the parking lease proposal, including two today. One will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Pittsburgh Phillips K-5 on the South Side, and another at 7 p.m. at the Stephen Foster Community Center in Lawrenceville.

If council rejects the deal, the team will be disappointed but would move on to other opportunities, said Mark Weisdorf, managing director/CEO of J.P. Morgan Asset Management's Infrastructure Investments Group.

Team members said they'd work with community groups to identify philanthropic opportunities.

"We intend to be a full and active community partner," said Peter D. Levin, the LAZ executive who's been named CEO of Pittsburgh Parking Partners, the operating company to be owned by a J.P. Morgan investment fund and P4 Partners, a LAZ affiliate. LAZ will operate the parking system.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management is leading the initiative for a group of institutional investors. Mr. Weisdorf declined to identify the investors, but said they included no foreign governments.

LAZ was skewered for jammed meters and other problems that followed its takeover of about 36,000 meters in Chicago last year, but Mr. Lazowski promised a "seamless, seamless transition" here.

In the first 90 days, the team would begin to replace meters with pay-and-display machines programmed to accept credit cards.

Under Mr. Ravenstahl's proposal, all-day parking rates at Downtown garages would increase by as much as $4.25 next year and by as much as $10.25 by 2015, with later increases tied to inflation.

Hourly meter increases would vary by neighborhood, but Mr. Lazowski said the hikes would average 25 cents to 50 cents annually in the early years of the lease. Meter increases would first take effect March 31.

In his proposed lease, Mr. Ravenstahl demanded that the leaseholder rehabilitate the Smithfield Street/Liberty Avenue, Fort Duquesne Boulevard/Sixth Street and Ninth Street/Penn Avenue garages. J.P. Morgan and LAZ said they planned to rebuild the Smithfield/Liberty, Ninth/Penn and Third Avenue garages from the ground up and do significant work to Fort Duquesne/Sixth.

City finance director Scott Kunka said the city estimated that the concessionaire would spend $50 million on the three garages and another $10 million to replace meters with pay-and-display machines.

Mr. Kunka said he was pleased with the team's pledge to spend $440 million over the lease. Team members said Pittsburgh construction workers and companies would reap the benefits of the capital work.

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