Port Authority hopes project at T station will be first of many

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

When a developer breaks ground next spring on an apartment complex at the Castle Shannon park-n-ride lot, the Port Authority hopes it will be the first of nine development projects at bus and T stations.

And it expects the others to happen much quicker than the Castle Shannon project, which has taken more than 15 years to begin.

A Port Authority committee last week recommended approval of a revised plan for Shannon Transit Village. Commuters who use the Castle Shannon lot will receive a 60-day notice before the lot closes.

The project began with a Port Authority request for proposals 15 years ago, and development team JRA Development Group and real estate broker Herky Pollock have been working since 2009 to finalize funding.

The revised $42.3 million plan still calls for an eight-story apartment building with 152 apartments and 15,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor. But instead of a two-story parking deck, the deck will be a narrower, four-story facility that increases parking to 563 spaces, up from 541 on the twostory deck. The existing park-nride lot has 507 spaces.

Construction is expected to begin in April and take two years to compete, but the parking deck should be finished in one year. The developer has a 52-year lease for the site that is expected to generate $5 million for the authority.

When Castle Shannon lot closes, commuters will be encouraged to find parking at other Port Authority facilities, including South Hills Village, which charges $2 a day for parking.

Port Authority is changing its fare policy Jan. 1, and the cost of