South Fayette commissioners open bids for Star City site

SOUTH FAYETTE — The South Fayette Township Board of Commissionners opened four bids Wednesday from developers competing for the site along Route 50 where the Star City movie house once stood.
All four of the bids came in over the minimum purchase price of $3 million. The highest bid, from Cleveland-based apartment developer NRP Group, was for $4 million. The other bids were $3.5 million, $3.2 million and $3.1 million. The bids and proposals will be reviewed over the next month, and the board will consider them at its July 17 meeting.
The township has owned the 8.5-acre site since 2009, and has tried to sell it twice before. In 2018, the board turned down bids of $2.8 million and $1.5 million, betting that the area will become more enticing as the Newbury Market development located across Route 50 takes off. Commissioners have said that they hope a mixed-use development, with retail, restaurants and residences, is what eventually materializes at the site.
Star City Cinemas opened in 2000, where a steel plant was once located. It opened just a few months after the Destinta 20 Theatres threw open its doors just three miles away in Collier Township, and Destinta ended up winning the battle between the two multiplexes. Star City closed as a first-run theater in 2005, reopened as a discount, second-run theater in 2006, but finally closed for good in 2008. The building was torn down two years ago.
South Fayette Township purchased the property with an eye toward making it a community center.
Horizon Properties, a developer based in Southpointe, backed out of a proposal to purchase the site in 2017 after placing a $5 million bid.