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The Penguins' plan for a new home includes much more than just a place to play hockey.Representatives from the Penguins, HOK Construction, Economics Research Associates and Urban Design Associates introduced plans for a new arena and a plan to revitalize the area surrounding the team's current home, Mellon Arena.
"When Mario [Lemieux] and his group acquired the team [in 1999], they also were given a written promise that by June of 2002 - three years hence - there would be a financial plan [for a new arena] in place," said Ken Sawyer, president of Lemieux Group LP, the franchise's holding company. "That date is coming upon us nowŠThat's why we're here today. To really walk you through all the work that we have done, because this is very, very important to us.
"We have invested over $11 million so far in this project. That's an enormous sum for an operation our size, but we view a new arena as absolutely essential to our long-term viability."
The team and its representatives have been researching possible spots for a new building for the better part of the last year, after concluding that a refitting of Mellon Arena would cost just as much as building a new structure. The most favorable site for a new rink is on the former St. Francis Hospital site directly across from the Penguins' current home. Lemieux Group LP purchased the abandoned site nearly two years ago.
"Very quickly we realized that could be an excellent site for our new arena," said Sawyer. "We took advantage of that opportunity to acquire it."
Plans placed the proposed 18,000 seat building between Centre Avenue, Washington Place and Fifth Avenue, slightly to the south of Mellon Arena. The Epiphany Church, one of several historical buildings in the area, would not be affected by possible construction, although several other buildings along Fifth Avenue could be.
"We thought we had a great opportunity to take advantage of [the church] as sort of an iconic piece of architecture that we could use to actually make the arena even a stronger idea than just a stand alone building," said HOK's Patrick Lempka. "We also felt like we had the opportunity to be responsible citizens in terms of making sure that building always remained. We also felt that we were being civically responsibleŠto help revitalize the Fifth Avenue corridor. There are opportunities to create retail and office buildings along that edge.
"We were very excited about the notion of better pedestrian connections than the existing arena has," Lempka continued. "This building comes down and engages into downtown."
The building's two entrances - on the Centre and Fifth Avenue sides - stretch over a grade change of no less than 40 feet. Fans entering from Fifth Avenue would travel up to a main concourse, and all ticket holders then enter the building's bowl area from a common concourse. Improved sight lines inside the arena were designed to enhance enjoyment of the game and other performances, and more open common spaces were integrated to allow better views of the game while fans travel to their seats.
"If you're in [Mellon Arena], you're fairly sealed off from what's happening in the bowl during an event," stated Lempka.
Estimated cost for the Pens' future home came in at $225 million, not including garage construction and other land assembly.
But where does that leave Mellon Arena and the 28 acres of land that it sits on? According to ERA's Patrick Phillips, the opportunities for economic development on the site are limitless.
"We've seen across the country that sports facilities can be important catalysts for urban redevelopment," he said. "This is a very compelling siteŠIt has a very unusual combination of size, adjacency to a major economic concentration, tremendous transit and transportation infrastructure, strong nearby institutions and neighborhoods and, really importantly, a substantial view amenity to downtown.
Phillips sees mixed-use development in the area's future, with residential, commercial and retail buildings integrated into the planning. A 265 room hotel, as well as 1,100 housing units for rent or sale, numerous stores, restaurants, office buildings, parking areas and open spaces are all possibilities.
"We can develop a system of street-level amenity and other kinds of activity," he stated. "Places like this that we see around the country that are very competitive - places like Mission Bay in San Francisco, Lower Downtown in Denver, the Seaport District in Boston - were all catalyzed by major public investments in convention centers, arenas, ballparks and the like."
Don Carter, UDA president, described how the new development could tie the Hill District - a portion of the city basically cut by the construction of the Civic Arena - with downtown once again.
"We certainly would like to provide a framework of streets rather than the suburban ring pattern that you have right now," said Carter. "We would like to replace this pattern of streetsŠwith a real urban grid.
"We would also like to respect and celebrate the history of this area. All the culture that was here in the lower Hill District at one time still exists in people's minds and hearts."
Carter noted that the extension and rebuilding of Wylie Avenue, historically the pipeline between the Hill District and downtown, was a major concern for the new layout. Low-density development - the residential portion of the plan - would sit highest atop the current sight, near the current Crawford Square development. Mid-rise office buildings with ground floor retail establishments would sit in the middle of the area, with larger buildings going up closer to the downtown area. Parking would be surrounded by buildings so as not to clutter the view.
Estimated cost for the development, which would take place over the course of 12-15 years, was put at $480 million, with the tax revenue generated from the area running around $25 million per year, a significant increase from the current $5 million being generated now. Funding would come from a combination of public and private investment.
"What we're talking about here is actually rebuilding a part of the city," said Carter, "creating a new downtown neighborhood in a sense that links both developments together."
Penguins' arena plan includes an Uptown renewal worth $500 million
Tuesday, March 12, 2002
By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
The Penguins yesterday proposed a huge Uptown office/housing/retail development, costing more than $500 million, across Centre Avenue from a new $225 million hockey arena.
The ambitious project, which would demolish Mellon Arena, also includes a new hotel and a city park to be built over the Crosstown Expressway.
Team officials claim the development would provide 5,000 new jobs, housing for 2,500, $20 million in additional tax revenue and take at least 15 to 20 years to complete.
The central question of where the money would come from was left unanswered.
The development would sit on the 28 acres now occupied by 41-year-old Mellon Arena and its surrounding parking lots, said Ken Sawyer, president of the Lemieux Group, the team of investors headed by Penguins star Mario Lemieux that owns the Penguins.
"This is one of the greatest development sites in the United States," said Donald Carter, an architect with Urban Design Associates, who is working with the Penguins.
"It's near to public transportation and it lies in proximity to Downtown. It's an opportunity to rebuild a piece of the city that kind of went away," he said, referring to the mostly-black neighborhood of the Lower Hill that was demolished in the late 1950s to make way for the current arena.
The Penguins plan calls for extension of Wylie Avenue down the hill westward to form the spine of the redevelopment area.
As outlined by Sawyer, Carter and Patrick Phillips, president of Economics Research Associates of Washington, D.C., the proposed development would contain:
800 units of new rental housing just west of the current Crawford Square community.
300 new for-sale housing units.
Three to seven new office buildings, containing 1.1 million square feet.
200,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, mostly on the ground floors of the office buildings or in new two-story buildings.
A 264-room hotel.
Several new parking garages containing nearly 3,000 spaces.
One or two new city parks. Sawyer wouldn't say how much of the $225 million cost of the new arena would come from the team and how much would have to come from public sources like the city, county, state or Sports & Exhibition Authority.
The Penguins are believed to want a deal similar to what the Pirates got at PNC Park, where the baseball team provided about $47 million, or 18 percent, of the $260 million project cost.
Sawyer said that before he can say how much money the team would contribute, he needs to know how much the operating costs at the new arena will be, who would pay them and how much revenue from advertising, naming rights, concession stands and parking the team will get.
Yesterday, Mayor Tom Murphy, Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey and sports authority Director Stephen Leeper seemed reluctant to provide much public funding.
An agreement signed by the city, county and Penguins in September 1999, when Lemieux bought the team, contains a date of June 30, 2002, for devising a financing plan for an arena.
But Leeper noted the deal also requires "a considerable amount" from the team.
Roddey said the county "does not have the funds available to contribute to construction of a new arena." He said county funds would be limited to water, sewer and roadway improvements "just as we would do for any other business."
Spokesman Craig Kwiecinski said Murphy "has made it clear there is no city operating money available" for an arena, and is looking for "significant" help from the county, state and private sector.
Phillips said the public sector would provide 10 to 20 percent of the cost of the project, for items like water and sewer lines and street construction.
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