Start play
Last chance for Pens’ development at arena site
City officials and the Pittsburgh Penguins are a vote away from resetting their relationship over redevelopment of the former Civic Arena site. The new agreement would include new development deadlines, with penalties to be imposed if the team fails to meet them.
New protections for taxpayers are a welcome step, but all involved should view this as a last-chance agreement. As the Pens well know, unproductive players get cut or traded.
In recent months, Mayor Bill Peduto and other officials have expressed frustration with the lack of construction at the 28-acre site, to which the Pens were awarded redevelopment rights in 2007. Some delays, such as U.S. Steel’s decision to back out of a headquarters project there, have been outside the team’s control. But there’s a growing sense that the team, which collects revenue from using the site as a parking lot, needs to get off the dime.
Mr. Peduto and Pens CEO David Morehouse hammered out the framework for the new agreement over lunch Oct. 31. It was approved Thursday by the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority, one of the two public entities that own the site. The other, the city Urban Redevelopment Authority, voted Thursday to table the matter for a week so board members and the public have more time to review it. The URA should approve the deal, too, as a last-chance measure that could induce action.
It would give the team an additional year, until October 2025, to complete redevelopment but there are scenarios, such as the failure of public entities to do infrastructure work in a timely manner, that could push that timetable to 2028. The team must have more than 6 acres under development by 2020 and nearly 11 acres in play by 2023 or risk losing up to 30 percent of parking revenue.
Also under the new deal, the Penguins would exchange about $14 million in tax credits to acquire the property, a way of preventing haggling over property values and ensuring that the team doesn’t have any credits left over at the end of its involvement in development.
The Pens long envisioned a mixeduse development with office, residential and commercial components. On Wednesday, the team provided new details, including plans to put a live music venue on the site, next to an area for showing movies and playoff games. The Pens also announced plans for a hotel, theater, restaurants and other amenities.
It all sounds great, but actions speak louder than words. It’s time for the front office to follow the oftrepeated advice head coach Mike Sullivan has given his squad: Just play.