SEA members call for bigger say in work at former site of Civic Arena
Some members of the Sports & Exhibition Authority board are calling for a bigger say in the development that takes place at the former site of the Civic Arena.
Board member Sala Udin raised concerns Thursday that the SEA may be relinquishing too much control over the development to another public agency — the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment
Authority.
He and board chairman Wayne Fontana, a state senator, also stated that more had to be done to work out differences between the Pittsburgh Penguins, who hold the development rights to the land, and their developers and the Hill District community.
The bulk of the 28-acre arena tract in the lower Hill District is owned by the SEA, while the URA owns the piece closest to Crawford Square known as the Melody Tent site.
The SEA is a city-Allegheny County authority that owns Heinz Field, PNC Park and the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. The URA is the city’s chief economic development arm.
Mr. Udin, a Pittsburgh school board member and former city councilman who lives in the Hill, said he was concerned that the SEA may have given too much control to the URA, which has oversight over issues like the tax abatements and community benefits that are part of the overall arena site development.
“So I would like to review what our role should be and will be and see whether or not some adjustments need to be made so that our interests are not completely surrendered to the Urban Redevelopment Authority,” he said.
Mr. Udin suggested that the URA is “beginning to take the
position that they have to maintain some percentage of ownership of projects that are developed in collaboration” with that authority.
That, he added, would be “problematic” because “I don’t want them to be pursuing policies that run contrary to our knowledge and our thinking.”
However, Sam Williamson, URA board chairman, said the authority is not seeking a percentage of ownership in any of the proposed projects at the arena site or anywhere else in the city.
He noted that a consultant had recommended as part of an URA reorganization strategy that the authority consider taking private stakes in largely market-rate developments as a way of keeping it on solid financial footing and diversifying funding sources.
But he said nothing like that has been implemented.
“The URA has not participated in any meeting for the purpose of discussing an equity position in the lower Hill development deals and is not currently exploring such an arrangement,” the agency added in a statement.
Even if the URA were to move in that direction at some point, it would likely involve purely market-rate developments and not the arena site, Mr. Willamson said.
He noted that every single development advanced by the Penguins is voted on by the URA and SEA boards.
That’s what happened last month when both boards approved conceptual plans for the new First National Bank headquarters at the site, although not without considerable controversy.
After the URA board delayed a vote on the plan so it and Hill leaders and residents could review community-related pledges, the Penguins stated that they were halting all development activities at the site.
The SEA board had made its approval contingent on its URA counterparts doing the same. A week later, the Urban Redevelopment Authority board did approve the plans. Development operations resumed.
URA and SEA officials meet regularly to coordinate actions involving the development, Mr. Williamson said, adding that he’s not aware of any instances where they are working at cross purposes.
Mr. Udin — whose son Bomani Howze is a principal in Intergen, the minority developer doing the first 288 units of housing at the arena site — seemed to be mindful of the latest dispute in calling for a greater SEA role.
“Sometimes the forward motion stumbles, especially between the URA and the developers, the Penguins, and the community. And sometimes they need another voice to get them unstuck. I want us, if we are legally authorized to do so, I want us to pay close attention and a closer role, especially when they need to get unstuck,” he said.
“Sometimes the developers and the Penguins don’t live up to the terms of the [community agreement] and if the URA gets to call the balls and strikes that gets to be a little bit problematic. I want to make sure we are on the field observing the game and if there needs to be some suggestions made or some action taken to make sure the [community agreement] is complied with, then I want us to be there.”
Morgan Hanson, the SEA solicitor, said the board does exercise control through its vote, but added he would look at the agreements to see if there are “ways we can become more actively involved.”
Mr. Fontana, whose district includes the Hill, said he was bothered by the constant “banging of heads” regarding the arena development and wondered why Mayor Bill Peduto wasn’t doing more to resolve it.
“If I’m the mayor of this city, to be blunt, I would think that it was on me to try to make this happen. Half this board is appointed by the mayor and the URA is all appointed by the mayor,” he said.
“I would feel a responsibility to step up and possibly try to do that. Maybe he can’t. I don’t know because I haven’t heard that, either.”
Tim McNulty, Mr. Peduto’s spokesman, declined comment.
After the Penguins halted development operations last month, Mr. Peduto took the unusual step of releasing a statement in support of the FNB project and urging the URA board to approve it.