Ruth Erskine isn't too concerned about the roar of helicopters landing and lifting off when television station WPXI moves into its new studios over the hill from her Summer Hill home.
"I'd rather see the TV station going in there than some of the other things they talked about over the years, like a high-rise apartment building, a movie theater or a shopping center," said Erskine, who has lived in her Ivory Avenue home for more than 50 years.
If all goes according to plan, Channel 11 will begin broadcasting from the studio in early September, said Ray Carter, the station's general manager.
Over the past three years, WPXI has spent $29.7 million to turn a vacant, 17-acre site in the North Side neighborhood off Interstate 279 into a modern broadcast facility.
The station built the 70,000-square-foot building because it has outgrown its studios on "Television Hill" in Fineview, Carter said.
A major concession TV station officials made to address neighbors' concerns about the building was to continue using the 800-foot tall antenna in Fineview, Carter said. Except for the antenna and several small structures to house equipment, the old building, built in 1957, is likely to be demolished.
"Almost everybody who previously proposed things for the site we're moving to went in like a bull in a china shop," Carter said. "So from the beginning, we were determined to work with neighbors and be upfront in addressing their concerns."
Carter said continuing to use the antenna in Fineview "was no small compromise" because the station will have to pay property taxes for both locations.
Because the new location is at a lower elevation, an antenna there would need to be about 900 feet tall, Carter said. Instead, microwave equipment was built into a 40-foot tower that will relay the signal to the antenna in Fineview.
Deann Gauntner, whose home overlooks the new station, said the concerns residents raised "helped bring the neighborhood closer together."
"A lot of us got to know each other better because of the meetings we had with WPXI," said Gauntner, 36, who bought her Ivory Avenue home with husband Matthew after construction of the TV station began.
"As far as addressing our concerns, the folks at WPXI were very accommodating," she said. "The helicopter noise shouldn't be much of an issue, because I don't think it will be taking off and landing very frequently."
WPXI's helicopter averages less than an hour a day in the air and is housed in a hangar at the Allegheny County Airport in West Mifflin.
Dave Karner, who moved to Summer Hill three years ago, isn't expecting any problems with the addition to the neighborhood.
"Between the rumble of trucks on (Interstate) 279 and the traffic up and down Ivory, it's already pretty noisy here," Karner said. "I don't think a little noise from a helicopter is anything to worry about."
