East Liberty Transit Oriented Development

Through an innovative public-private partnership, the project transformed six acres of blighted and idle publicly-owned property into a state-of-the-art multimodal transit station and mixed-use development on Pittsburgh’s Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway.

Background

The East Liberty Transit Oriented Development (EL TOD) was a public-private partnership among the URA, City of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Regional Transit, Mosites Development Company, and East Liberty Development, Inc. It integrated public transit station improvements and private real estate development to create a mixed-use, economic development project focused on strengthening pedestrian connections between the neighborhoods adjacent to the East Liberty Transit Center along the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway. One of the core elements of the TOD approach is centering development around a transit asset to increase the transit asset's longevity and significantly increase public transit use to create better connected neighborhoods and increase transit system use.

Public Investment

The URA facilitated $54 million in local, state, and federal investment in the $158 million Eastside Transit Oriented Development project. This project included financing from Pennsylvania’s first Transit Revitalization Investment District.

Facts

• Developer: Mosites Company / Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh
• Total Development Cost: $77,000,000
• URA Investment: $1,500,000 Transit Revitalization Investment District Financing, $11,600,000 Pittsburgh Urban Initiatives New Market Tax Credit allocation, and grants management for various state and federal funding sources
• 219 construction jobs created
• 142 full-time equivalent jobs created
• $1,000,000 dollars in new tax revenue annually
• 360 multifamily housing units
• 554-space shared-use parking garage
• 120-space bike garage
• 43,000 square feet of retail space