PGH commissioning East Liberty TRID study (Reading, Penn: real estate, neighborhood, bus)

[BrianTH]

http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/cp/...FP_8-10-10.pdf

What is a TRID study? Under a 2004 state law, after a study and public input process, local governments and transit authorities can jointly form Transit Revitalization Investment Districts, defined as "a collection of projects, usually mixed-use, at a neighborhood scale that are oriented to a transit node." TRID studies get priority access to state funding and expert assistance, and once a TRID is established, the relevant transit authority can acquire and improve property for non-transit purposes, enter into joint development agreements, and so forth.

The focus here is the "Eastern Gateway" area of East Liberty, where Penn enters downtown East Liberty and the East Liberty bus loop and East Busway station are located. This area has already been studied for redevelopment--and in fact the County is studying it for transit-oriented development purposes--and some steps like bringing in the Target and reconfiguring the streets back to 2-way operation are already in progress. Reading between the lines, I suspect this TRID is all about allowing PAT to get into the real estate development side of things as they eliminate the bus loop and create a new Transit Center. This new Transit Center would also include parking and retail, hence the need for the authorization to develop real estate for non-transit purposes.