Mount Lebanon to issue RFP for South Garage redevelopment after CBRE briefing

Manager McIll opened the discussion on the South Garage, saying the town—ommission hired consultants in 2023 and a structural analysis shows the garage "has approximately 5 years remaining in its useful life" if maintenance continues. He told commissioners the municipality has site control and wants to minimize the length of any outage for a structure that "serves multiple users."

A CBRE representative and Ann Rahm, CBRE nd Midwest managing director for its Public Institutions and Education Solutions group (PISE), presented the firm pproach to an RFP-driven redevelopment process. The CBRE representative framed the work as a four-phase engagement: discovery to define the municipality—riteria and incentives, creation and marketing of a developer-focused RFP, synthesis and evaluation of heterogeneous proposals, and negotiation and documentation with a selected developer. "In a really good situation, we're at a 9month one-year process," Rahm said, noting that the team will help the municipality decide whether it needs workforce housing, market-rate units, senior housing or other uses and how to structure evaluation criteria.

Officials and CBRE stressed the municipality must set clear evaluation standards to protect long-term community value. Manager McIll said the town may control parking and possibly build a foundation that supports future residential or commercial construction above the garage footprint, and advised that the commission should use the RFP to require design durability and appropriate financing terms. "We actually have site control," McIll said. "We want to make sure also that we are doing everything that we can to potentially capitalize on what is an important development opportunity for the municipality."

Both CBRE presenters warned that rising construction costs are a countervailing factor. Rahm said construction prices have "spiked," and the CBRE representative urged a market-led process that remains attractive to developers: "we have to be careful of strike a balance, keep their attention, get them excited about the project."

CBRE described outreach options (proprietary website, national and international marketing lists, pre-bid conferences, and press communications) and said the proposal could include mechanisms such as air-rights leases, long-term leasebacks for parking, or multi-party financing structures. Staff noted the demolition/rebuild window likely falls in the 2028'029 time frame if the garage—ondition continues on the projected path, and emphasized that the RFP process would help determine whether a developer can "make the site pencil."

Next steps identified at the meeting were finalizing the consultant contract for RFP services, setting an RFP scope and evaluation committee, and returning to the commission with an RFP schedule and procurement documents. The commission did not take formal action at this meeting; staff said findings from the market process will be presented to the body for any formal decisions.

The CBRE briefing and staff summary provide the commission with a clear procedural path for issuing an RFP while flagging key policy choices commissioners will need to make about long-term control of parking, design longevity and acceptable financing terms.