PITTSBURGH -- There's no doubt that Pittsburgh is in a full revitalization mode of its neighborhoods and the focus is now shifting to East Liberty.

That's where some hard work is paying off with a brand new multimillion-dollar development.

At least 12 developers are converging on East Liberty along with $1 billion in development investments.

The East Liberty Renaissance is launching 1,000 new housing units from affordable housing to upscale.

And a surge of new ethnic restaurants is lining up to form restaurant row along three blocks of Highland Avenue. New fitness and wellness centers are on tap, too, along with retail shops and office space.

Three new upscale hotels will give East Liberty new glitz as well. The Indigo will be built on Highland Avenue on the corner Penn Avenue. Another will be built in the old Nabisco plant.

"The two smaller buildings will be demolished as part of the new hotel structure," said Ernie Hogan of the East Liberty Development Corporation. "This face will be restored and the hotel behind it, marble stair case. And it will look nothing like it is today."

One of the more radical changes will be a new five-way intersection at Penn Avenue, Penn Circle and Center Avenue.

The intersection will be the retail hub of the new development.

Development on Highland's restaurant row has already begun.

Royal Caribbean restaurant has already opened. A pan-Asian restaurant is scheduled to open across the street in a few months.

Local business owners said the look of the area would change drastically.

"It's a whole new ball game," said business owner Susanne Gatano. "I think the plan and the vision is totally different than what we've seen in the past."

The bulk of the construction begins next year and by 2010, a new East Liberty is expected to emerge.

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