The uncertain future of St. Nicholas Church on East Ohio Street is even more in doubt today.

The Croatian group that hoped to turn the North Side church into a cultural center and shrine has withdrawn its offer to purchase it and is no longer pursuing the project.

Its sister Croatian church, St. Nicholas in Millvale, now wants the diocese to sell the property to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

"Our preference is that PennDOT tear it down and use the property for the expansion of Route 28," said the Rev. Dan Whalen, parish administrator for St. Nicholas Church in Millvale.

"At this point we're not intending to purchase the church," said PennDOT District 11 Executive Dan Cessna. "But as we go through final design we'll continue to refine safety concerns. If we determine that something different had to be done, we would look at those options."

PennDOT still must secure funding for that phase of the expansion project and there is no start date, Mr. Cessna said.

PennDOT altered its plans for Route 28 in 2003, bypassing the church to save it in response to outcries from church members and preservationists.

The Croatian American Cultural and Economic Alliance had offered the Millvale church, representing the diocese, $44,400 and 10 percent of the income from fund raising for the first five years. But the Millvale church wanted $394,000 for the church property, which includes a rectory and hillside grotto. Alliance spokesman Dr. Marion Vujevich said negotiations came to a halt over the summer. After that deal fell apart, he added, the Millvale church expressed interest in selling the North Side church to PennDOT.

Three years ago, the alliance offered the Diocese of Pittsburgh $150,000 for the North Side church and grounds; the diocese asked for another $100,000 for the religious artifacts, which the Croatians agreed to pay. That deal fell through partly because the diocese insisted on a clause forbidding the sale of alcohol on the property, which the alliance felt would limit its fundraising ability. The diocese later entered a sales agreement with New York-based Follieri Group, but that also fell apart.

Dr. Vujevich said the $44,400 offered recently represented the amount of money the alliance had on hand for the purchase.

"We didn't want to take a mortgage up because we wanted to see what we could raise," he said.

He said the Millvale church's $394,000 asking price was based on an amount that congregation had put into maintaining the building since its closure.

Dr. Vujevich, a Mt. Lebanon dermatologist whose parents were Croatian immigrants, said the group hoped to raise as much as $1 million annually from Croatians in America, Canada and Europe and through local events.

He said the alliance also wanted to support the Millvale church, which has a leaking roof, and its distinguished murals, painted by Maxo Vanka from 1937 to 1941.

Because the North Side church is a city historic landmark, its demolition, should it come to that, would need the approval of the Historic Review Commission.

The diocese removed the church's statues, painted over its interior murals and demolished its altars in March 2007. The church's windows, sponsored by Croatian lodges across the country, remain.