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Rendering of proposed live music venue and 900-space parking garage at the former Civic Arena site in the Lower Hill District.
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Penguins tweak plans for live music venue at former Civic Arena site

Desmone Architects

Penguins tweak plans for live music venue at former Civic Arena site

The Penguins are revamping plans for a live music venue at the former Civic Arena site, scrapping a proposed outdoor section because of concerns about noise and economics.

It’s not the only change the team and developer Buccini Pollin Group are contemplating at the 28-acre publicly owned site in the lower Hill District.

They also are proposing to eliminate two streets that were originally planned in the upper part of the site near Crawford Square.

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And at the lower end of the property, part of Wylie Avenue will be replaced with open space leading into Frankie Pace Park, which connects the Hill to Downtown.

The former Civic Arena site in the Lower Hill District
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The changes were detailed during a meeting Monday evening at the Energy Innovation Center overlooking the site. It was arranged by the Hill District Collaborative and the Hill District Consensus Group.

Craig Dunham, the Penguins’ senior vice president of development, said the team decided to eliminate the music venue’s outdoor section after community members raised concerns about the noise it could create.

“We felt it would be too impactful and not something we could mitigate,” he said.

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Boris Kaplan, Buccini Pollin senior vice president, said the decision also took into account “cost pressures,” adding that the outdoor component was ”not essential” to the overall project.

“It fell victim to some of the realities of developing in today’s market,” he said. “We’re trying to maximize how this project has a positive impact.”

As originally planned, the venue was to be built on top of a 900-space parking garage. The two structures now will be built next to each other at the corner of Wylie and Logan Street.

The venue, totaling about 90,000 square feet, will be operated by Live Nation. The team hopes to start construction early next year and have the garage and venue completed in the first and second quarters of 2024, respectively.

Aerial rendering of the planned development of the former Civic Arena site. The live music on the right in the middle of the rendering.
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Not everybody was happy with the change in plans. Marimba Milliones, president and CEO of the Hill Community Development Corp,, said that the development team was supposed to develop business “incubator” space along Wylie as part of the plan.

But instead, “in the final hours they moved the already discreet space’s entrance to the side street near the parking garage.” She said there was no community discussion or dialogue about the change and it was not brought before an executive management committee that oversees the development.

In response, Mr. Kaplan said the development team has told stakeholders and the owners of the land — the Sports and Exhibition Authority and Urban Redevelopment Authority — that it “would explore ways to locate the incubator space on Wylie.”

“We heard that concern, and we’re looking at shifting [the space],” Mr. Dunham said.

The team also has reduced the development’s proposed retail space from 15,000 square feet to 5,000, largely because the music venue is now being built at grade instead of on top of the garage.

As part of the overall project, the Penguins are planning to divert an estimated $8.2 million in parking tax revenues to the Middle and Upper Hill District to support housing stabilization efforts. They also are relocating a police public safety facility to the development.

The team also is proposing to amend the preliminary land development plan for the former arena site to remove the two streets that were planned in the residential section.

Mr. Dunham said both of the streets would have involved very steep grades. The development team decided the better option would be to create open spaces and walkable pathways to navigate that area.

The goal is to centralize the open space and create a gateway into the Hill. The same rationale applies in creating a park at the lower end near the new 26-story office tower anchored by First National Bank rather than extending Wylie to Washington Place.

In a statement, Ms. Milliones pushed the Penguins to incorporate a community collaboration and implementation plan agreed to years ago into the amended land development proposal.

“If they are serious about equitable development, that’s a simple thing to do, and it’s the right thing to do,” she said. “This will allow the city planning commission to use the CCIP as a metric for future plans.”

Mr. Dunham said the Penguins and the developer “stand wholeheartedly by the goals and commitments” made in the plan but added that he does not believe the planning commission is set up to do such monitoring. He said there are others responsible for doing so.

“We don’t think it needs another level of enforcement,” he said.

One of the CCIP’s goal is to create more minority business opportunities and jobs at the former arena site. Toward that end, Mr, Dunham said there are 42 minority and women-owned contractors working on the construction of the FNB tower, with contracts ranging from $7.4 million to $15,000.

Also Monday evening, city Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle, who represents the Hill, said the first allocations from more than $7 million advanced by FNB in anticipation of tax revenues to be generated by development at the arena site should be distributed early next year.

An application is being finalized for Hill residents and businesses that want to apply for funding, he said.

Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com.

First Published: October 4, 2022, 1:00 a.m.
Updated: October 4, 2022, 2:41 a.m.

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Rendering of proposed live music venue and 900-space parking garage at the former Civic Arena site in the Lower Hill District.  (Desmone Architects)
Rendering of the new 24-story office tower under construction at the former Civic Arena site. First National Bank will be the anchor tenant.  (Gensler)
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