Injunction request delayed for Strip plan

Allegheny Valley Railroad and Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority will square off at a November court hearing over the former’s challenge to riverfront development in the Strip District.

Initially, the railroad was to seek a preliminary injunction on Friday to block the Buncher Co. project, which would include acquisition of the authority-owned produce terminal.

However, Jonathan Kamin, an attorney for the railroad, said the parties agreed to a 45-day discovery period and a November hearing on the railroad’s injunction request.

In a lawsuit filed this week, the railroad said the authority’s 1981 deed to the terminal requires the agency to use its “best efforts” to continue to provide space for produce wholesalers or “some other rail-oriented use” in the Strip District landmark.

Instead, the suit says, the authority plans to sell the building to Buncher, which would demolish part of the structure as part of its proposed Riverfront Landing mixed-use development.

In a separate case, the railroad and Buncher are awaiting the U.S. Surface Transportation Board’s ruling on whether the railroad owns an easement on Buncher property between 16th and 21st streets — something that the railroad says could derail Buncher’s Riverfront Landing project but that the URA says would not.