Apr 28, 2014 1 min read

PITTSBURGH (AP) – A New York developer emerged as the top bidder for Pittsburgh’s bankrupt August Wilson Center for African American Culture.

At a hearing Monday, Judge Lawrence O’Toole temporarily postponed a request to approve the $9.5 million bid from 980 Liberty Partners LLC of Monsey. A court-appointed conservator endorsed the sale, finding the developer’s bid could be “very attractive to the city, the county and the African-American community in Pittsburgh,” because the proposed addition of a hotel on top of the existing building could subsidize arts-related programing.

But Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald object to the bid and prefer a lower one from a coalition of local foundations.

O’Toole gave the various parties a week to file responses to the proposed sale.