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New Office Towers On North Shore Puts Squeeze On Commuter Parking

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Gleaming twin tower office buildings could be the latest addition to the North Shore landscape, replacing a 2-acre parking lot just opposite PNC Park between two Marriott hotels.

"We've always known that the highest and best use is going to be more than just a surface parking lot," Merrill Stabile, president of Alco Parking Inc., told KDKA money editor Jon Delano.

Alco Parking owns the site, and Stabile said construction depends on finding a major tenant to occupy his proposed buildings.

"Because of both the national and international attention that Pittsburgh has received, we feel very optimistic that there could be some very large corporate users out there," noted Stabile.

With free T service across the river, the North Shore has become very popular with ongoing construction of new buildings, but it is also putting a squeeze on parking.

"Park here every day," says James Shackleford of Brighton Heights. "It will be a big inconvenience if they do it."

That's something commercial realtor Patrick Sentner of Colliers International says is on everyone's mind.

"What's going to happen to the parking because we've all seen as more buildings go up, there are less and less surface parking lots," he said.

North Shore parkers have noticed, too.

"It gets harder every year. Lately, it's getting real tough," noted Nate Snyder of Freeport, who added that the price for parking was getting "outrageous."

Although at $7 or $8 a day, North Shore parking is still cheaper than downtown.

If and when this parking lot goes under construction for office buildings, the bad news -- 400 parking spaces will be lost.

But the good news, says Stabile, in the future, maybe two or three years from now, 1,200 parking places will be added in a new garage.

Stabile says it will be short-term parking pain for long-term gain.

"The daytime demand continues to grow, and the demand from events has always exceeded the supply over here," he noted.

Something he hopes his planned garage under the office towers will help alleviate.

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