Nov 12, 2015 By Harry Funk 3 min read

Mt. Lebanon commissioners are expected to vote in December on extending a purchase agreement with Zamagias Properties for a ninth time.

The agreement covers property at Washington and Bower Hill roads that the Mt. Lebanon parking authority sold to Zamagias in 2007 and has been the subject of proposals for development since the 1990s.

Part of the agreement is a buyback option for the municipality, which dissolved the parking authority and took over its assets in 2011. The intent is to protect the municipality from “incomplete development,” Commissioner Dave Brumfield said at the Nov. 10 discussion session.

The latest development proposed for the site is for Mt. Lebanon Condominiums, a Zamagias project calling for 46 residential units on the two acres of land that also abuts Kenmont Avenue and Oak Way.

Zamiagas went before the Mt. Lebanon Planning Board on Oct. 27 seeking consolidation of three lots, the property bought from the parking authority plus two more recently purchased parcels, and preliminary approval for a land development application. The board sought more information, based primarily on engineering reports, and the company has submitted revised plans, according to Keith McGill, interim municipal manager.

The next planning board meeting is Nov. 24. If the project receives necessary approvals and recommendations, it could come before the commission as early as February, McGill said.

“They seem to be fairly confident that they will have a product that will work on the site,” he said about Zamagias’ ability to raise capital through home sales. As for construction, “They could be starting, I’d say, in the summer of ’16.”

In the meantime, commissioners discussed the possibility of renegotiating the purchase agreement, the current version of which expires Dec. 31, possibly to eliminate the buyback option and implement some kind of performance bond in its place. The proceeds from a bond might represent “something we could use to clean up the area” in the case of an unfinished project, Brumfield said.

Commissioners Kelly Fraasch and Steve Silverman voted against extending the purchase agreement into 2015, citing dissatisfaction with Zamagias’ progress on developing the site.

A decade ago, the company first proposed a development combining residential and business. That concept was abandoned in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

Other concerns have had ideas for developing the site, which was used from 1995-97 by Mt. Lebanon Public Library while its new building was under construction. Previously, Medical Rescue Team South Authority had its headquarters on the site.