Wilson Center sale gets go-ahead from judge; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/28/14

Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Wilson Center sale gets go-ahead from judge:

"Judge Lawrence O'Toole of Allegheny County Common Pleas Orphans' Court issued an order Monday that allows a court-appointed conservator to sell the Downtown building to pay off a $7 million mortgage and other outstanding debt, stating he found "no other reasonable or cognizable option."

In doing so, the judge rejected a request by prominent Pittsburgh attorney E.J. Strassburger to serve as a new conservator on a voluntary basis in one last bid to save the near-broke center, named after the famous playwright who grew up in the Hill District...

At the same time, Ms. Fitzgerald stressed that the go-ahead on the liquidation did not preclude a savior stepping forward with a plan to save the center, which opened in 2009.

"I will listen to any and all reasonable proposals. If the African-American community or whoever comes up with something that works or makes sense under the circumstances, I'm going to consider everything," she said. "If there's a way the community can rally to keep the center here, I hope that somebody will come up with that kind of plan."

Beverly Weiss Manne, attorney for Ms. Fitzgerald, cautioned that any new plan would have to be "well thought out" and viable.

"They have to resolve all the issues. It can't be a kick-the-can-down-the-road plan. That's been the problem with the center the last few years," she said."