Bernardo Katz MIA

Monsieur Briem had pointed out this article from the Pgh Business Times to us earlier in the week, to which we had quipped that Mr. Katz "has either completed his degree in Portuguese or is planning very far ahead for Carnivale 2009."

Only later did we find out that Mr. Katz was a native Brazilian so he (1) already knows Portuguese and (2) from what we've been told only has a very thin strip of pubic hair.

The Tribune-Review has a non-subscriber only version of the story:

resident of Mt. Lebanon, Katz returned to Brazil late last year with three of his four children, said Max Feldman, his attorney.

"I talked with Katz in Brazil Tuesday, and he has instructed me not to talk to the news media," Feldman said.

n February, the URA filed documents in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court seeking to retake ownership of commercial buildings at 1600, 1601, 1602 and 1619 Broadway.

At that time, Katz was delinquent on payment of between $600,00 and $700,000, said URA General Counsel Don Kortlandt...

He was successful in some of his local investments. Along with a business selling rare musical instruments, he developed commercial holdings he purchased for $2.2 million in 2003 along Mt. Lebanon's Washington Road that are home to such successful restaurants as Aladdin's and Little Tokyo.

However, his plans for developing a $2.6 million complex of medical offices, a theater, stores and a senior citizens center in Beechview became mired in politics and never materialized.

State Rep. Michael Diven, R-Brookline, secured a $1 million state grant for a new senior center, contingent on matching funds. The city put aside $400,000, and Katz pledged the remaining $600,000, but could not get needed approvals to start the project.

Diven lost his seat to Democrat Chelsa Wagner, an opponent of the plan.

Now, it was Diven who pushed really, really hard for this plan, IIRC. Of course, Mr. Diven is no longer in office and, by some sheer coincidence, the deal has died.

It looks like this was a bad deal all along, perhaps driven by political pressure from both Diven and the former Murphy administration. I wonder if it was generally held that this deal was a big ol' sack of crap from the beginning (and everyone just played along) or if it was a gilded turd that Katz had managed to foist upon the powers that be.

I'm not sure which one would be worse...