Penguins offer help in Hunt Armory’s evolution

Some prestigious expertise may be available to any developer willing to build an ice rink at the Hunt Armory in Shadyside.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are offering to provide programming assistance or even manage the rink for a developer interested in such a project, based on the request for proposals issued this week for the redevelopment of the historic landmark.

In the request, the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority stressed that it is interested in a reuse that is “primarily recreational,” although it does not limit it to an ice rink.

The new round of proposals for the conversion of the URAowned site comes nearly a year after a plan to redevelop the building into a family-friendly ice-skating facility with three rinks, a cafe, and a suspended walking and running track fell apart when the developer was unable to secure financing for the project.

Although that venture didn’t work out, there is still “substantial interest” from developers and investors in seeing the building used for that purpose, said Kevin Acklin, URA board chairman and chief of staff to Mayor Bill Peduto.

“I think given the interest we’ve had . . . our expectation is that this is a viable reuse of the building,” he said.

The Penguins are not interested in having an equity stake or investing in such a project, but they are open to assisting in other ways, said Travis Williams, the team’s chief operating officer.

One would be in helping with programming, either through its own initiatives like Sidney Crosby’s Little Penguins Learn to Play Hockey program; in providing more opportunities for inner-city children to learn to play the game; or in helping to schedule ice time for youth and high school hockey teams.

Mr. Williams noted that city teams now must travel to the suburbs to get indoor ice time.

“We’d like to see an indoor ice facility somewhere in the city of Pittsburgh. We think this is a unique opportunity to reuse the armory in this way,” he said. “We think it would be a great idea.”

Team officials also are open to managing an armory rink for a developer or investment group if “it’s a good fit and makes sense,” Mr. Williams said. The Penguins operate PPG Paints Arena and the rink at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry.

The city, meanwhile, is open to participating in the ownership structure of a recreational development or in offering a lease arrangement with a developer rather than selling the armory outright.

“Given the recreational use, we’re willing and ready to enter into a conversation about a potential role for the city,” Mr. Acklin said.

The URA stressed in the request for proposals that there is no commitment to provide subsidies such as tax abatements for the project. However, it has requested a $2 million state redevelopment assistance capital grant to help fund a 100-space subsurface parking garage at the site.

Beyond an ice rink, the city is open to other recreational uses as well, such as squash or climbing walls or health club uses, Mr. Acklin said.

In addition, the RFP states that “supplemental uses” may be included in the redevelopment to improve the economic viability of the project. That could involve things like sports medicine or office space, Mr. Acklin said.

Although the RFP does not rule out a residential conversion, it notes that a “vocal component of the community expressed the desire for a non-residential use” in the first go-around in 2015.

“We heard loud and clear and continue to hear that a recreational facility is what the community wants to see,” Mr. Acklin said.

Not everybody thinks that is the way to go.

URA board member Jim Ferlo, a former state senator, fears that “we’re just going to be spinning our wheels again” in trying to attract a developer to operate an ice rink or rec facility.

“Nobody is going to step forward from the private sector and say, ‘hey, we’re going to run a skating rink,’ ” he said. “I’m wondering if we’re going to waste another year and incur a lot of additional cost [with the RFP].”

Mr. Ferlo said he prefers to let developers decide for themselves what is most economically viable, whether co-working or tech space, commercial development or even residential.

“I don’t know that this RFP version is going to get us further ahead. I don’t know what’s new there that’s going to attract private investment,” he said. “Unless the city is going to pay for it and put it on the taxpayers’ shoulders, it’s got to have a reuse that is economically viable and sustainable.”

The last development team to try the rink concept, Toronto-based Cadan Inc. and Kratsa Properties, bowed out in July.

Mr. Acklin is hoping for better results this time. “We think there is substantial interest in a hockey facility,” he said.

Although the URA owns the building, any sale would require approval from the state, the previous owner. It also would get 80 percent of the sale proceeds.