Bankruptcy Court Approves $10M Sale of LTV Site

PHILADELPHIA-The US bankruptcy court in Youngstown, OH approved the sale of LTV Steel Corp.’s former Hazelwood, PA, 178-acre site to Almono, LP, a non-profit partnership of four Pittsburgh-based foundations and the RegionalIndustrial Development Corp. of Southwestern Pennsylvania. According to published reports, the purchase price is approximately $10 million.

Almono plans a mixed-use development for the property, which will include more than 2 million sf of office space, approximately 250,000 sf of light industrial space, a hotel and some retail and residential space.

LTV closed the Hazelwood mill in 1997 and cleared the ground the following year. At the end of 2000, LTV and 48 subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and the property has been tied up by the court ever since.

Transfer of the site, located on Second Ave., bordering the Monongahela River, to Almono is expected to take place within 30 days.

RIDC is a general partner of Almono, which also includes Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, Richard King Mellon Foundation, and the McCune Foundation.

“The court’s approval brings to a close over 18 months of discussion and negotiation with LTV,” says RIDC president Frank Brooks Robinson Sr. in a statement. “We are delighted that this partnership will now be able to move forward with its vision of creating an exemplary mixed-use site onthis important property.”

Robinson promises the Almono partnership would involve city officials and representatives of the community in developing its master site plan and adds, “We are ready to move forward.”