PAT to Stay Put

The Port Authority of Allegheny County is very likely to remain headquartered at its downtown facility, says spokesman Jim Ritchie. The old Manchester facility is too run down for use and would require too much money to fix, he says. "Staying downtown would cost about $27 million over the next ten years, which is $11 million less than the apples-to-apples cost of moving back to Manchester and bringing that building up to a safe and habitable level," says Ritchie. He says even after the ten-year window, maintaining and updating such an old structure would outweigh the cost of a lease, despite PAT's ownership of the Manchester building. He says the board has not yet decided the fate of the old headquarters, but demolition and "mothballing" are two options.