Developer looking to turn Shaler Twp. property into townhomes, apartments

Developer looking to turn Shaler Twp. property into townhomes, apartments 01:12

A developer is looking to turn a former high school property in Shaler Township into townhomes and apartments.

The developer’s desire to turn the Mt. Alvernia High School property along Hawthorne Road is leading to a showdown in Shaler Township.

Proposed plans call for some of the existing buildings on the property to be turned into hundreds of new apartments and eventually dozens of new townhomes.

There are several hurdles needed to be cleared and the developer has asked the township to re-zone the property to help get the ball rolling on the project.

“Without that level of certainty, we can’t go to the next level of architectural studies on the project,” said Rick Belloli with Q Development.

The former school property also stretches into Millvale Borough and some people who live in the area say they’re worried developers aren’t being transparent about how big the project really is.

“You put all these units across the street, most of us will either be forced to move someplace we don’t want to move, or we will sell our houses to more renters and then what are you gonna have?” one person in opposition of the project asked. “It’s just gonna spread.”

“I think that the people should be thankful that a developer like Q development is the developer that is going to hopefully develop Mt. Alvernia because they are respectful,” someone in support of the development said. “If you look at some of their other properties, they are not dumps, they are not slums.”

Shaler Township’s board was scheduled to vote on the re-zoning but commissioners decided to table a decision so they could rework it using some of the public’s input.