After three decades of almost no activity, developers have started building on 300 acres on the hillside above the Parkway West and Montour Run Road in Moon.
Now, with the help of a $3.5 million federal grant delivered Thursday, the Moon Transportation Authority can begin work on $7.9 million of road improvements to provide better access to the area known as the Marketplace District.
U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Aspinwall, delivered the check at a news conference in Moon. The money will help widen a 1.25-mile section of Montour Run Road and improve the intersection with Market Place Boulevard, where an estimated $170 million of construction already has begun on a mixed-use project where several developers are building office buildings, senior apartments and single-family homes.
More importantly, said transportation authority director Lynn Colosi, finishing this project will allow the authority to shift its attention to extending Market Place Boulevard to open another land-locked 400 acres for development. That road now ends at a cul-de-sac, but Colosi said there is more land available for development once the township provides access to it by extending Market Place Boulevard to Hookstown Grade Road.
The current project will widen Montour Run Road with extra through lanes and turning lanes from Business Route 376 to just past FedEx Drive. It also will include new traffic signals at Market Place Boulevard and FedEx Drive and provide safe access to pedestrians and bicyclists to the Montour Trail.
The highway carries about 13,000 vehicles a day now, and that is expected to increase substantially with the new developments.
For several decades, Colosi said, the only development at the site was Outback Steakhouse. In the past two years, the township has received a series of development proposals for the initial 300 acres and has approved several of them with the expectation that the transportation authority would find the money for road improvements.
“This situation was a little different,” she said. “Usually, the access is already available and the developers come in with proposals, but this was the other way around.”
Funding for the project includes contributions from the state Department of Transportation — it had work scheduled in future years — developers and the transportation authority. The road work should take about two years to complete with the developers responsible for bike and pedestrian accommodations on their property.
“The Marketplace District marks an exciting new chapter for Moon Township, one with a bold new community and that grows our local economy,” Deluzio said in a news release. “As this new development project reaches its final stages, I am proud that $3.5 million in congressional, federal investments will go toward critical road upgrades that will safely connect this new community with the wider region.”
Projects already underway at the site are:
- Three office buildings by Burns Scalo known as Diamond Ridge.
- 336 three-story, one-, two- and three-bedroom garden apartments known as Prism at Diamond Ridge developed by Thompson Thrift that will include a swimming pool, fitness center and dog park.
- The Park at Luna Ridge by Kossman Development Co., 400 apartments with minor retail and an athletic club, plus housing for seniors.
- 400 single-family homes.
The projects are expected to generate more than $14 million in local property and employment taxes and more than 1,500 jobs.
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.