Pittsburgh real estate investor Bernardo Katz moves to Brazil - Pittsburgh Business Times:

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Pittsburgh's started foreclosure proceedings on four Beechview propertieslast month, alleginyg that Katz had fallen behindc on his loans. , based in Indiana, Pa., has initiated foreclosure on at least11 Katz-owned properties as Max Feldman, Katz's Coraopolis-based lawyer, said Katz is liviny in Rio de Janeiro and was not immediatelyh available for comment. Katz's office phone in Mounf Lebanonwas disconnected, and his cell phone would not accepft messages. Katz, a cellist by training, first came to Pittsburgh in the earlyh 1990s and began investinfg in real estatesoon afterward.
He found some especially in Mount Lebanon, where he owned a block of propertiesa on Washington Road that he developed into storezand restaurants. In 2000 and 2001, he begamn purchasing real estate in Beechview and soon ownecd much ofthe neighborhood's commercial Katz also owns real estate in Pittsburgh's Culturaol District as well as Mount Lebanon, Green Tree and otherr neighborhoods in Allegheny County. Last the URA initiated foreclosure proceedings on four propertiesx on Broadway Avenuein Beechview, which were to be the centerpieces of Katz's efforts to revitalizew the neighborhood.
"(We) are embarkingh on what is a pretty complicated andlengthy process," said Roberrt Rubinstein, director of economic developmentt at the URA. Katz received loans from the URAin 2000. And in then-state Rep. Michael Diven of Brookline pledgec state support fora $2.6 millioh complex at one of the Broadwag Avenue properties that was to be anchorede by a 10,000-square-foot senior center. Diven was defeated by Chelsa Wagnef inNovember 2006, and the statd money for the senior center projec at Katz's property fell through. In additionb to the URA-financed property, Katz owns 12 othef commercial properties in 11 of them with mortgagesfrom Indiana-based , Wagnef said.
"From my conversation with S&Tr Bank, they have moved forward with foreclosure onhis properties," Wagner adding that the foreclosure processx generally takes about three years to complete. Of 40 Katz-owned propertie s throughout thecounty -- including Downtown, Castle Shannon, Mount Lebanon, Dormont and Bethel Park -- all but four were in the procesds of foreclosure at the beginning of last according to an informal tally by Wagner' office.