Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said Tuesday that he expects to have an agreement with the Penguins on the first phase of development on the Lower Hill by Wednesday afternoon.
The Penguins’ development arm, Pittsburgh Arena Real Estate Development L.P., or PAR, was supposed to move on purchasing the first parcel of land at the former Civic Arena site by Oct. 22. That deadline was initially extended to Oct. 27, and again to Nov. 2.
The organization had already exhausted two years’ worth of extensions, which were part of the original deal agreed to in 2007.
Peduto said he doesn’t have details on the plan at this time.
“We want to see green space in the connection to the Hill, we want to see a combination between entertainment, office space, housing, retail all put together in connecting downtown and the Hill once again,” he said.
Peduto said said he also wants to renegotiate a $15 million credit for purchasing the land owned by the Pittsburgh-Allegheny County Sports and Exhibition Authority.
“The timetable will need to be adjusted, the critical benchmarks in the timetable have to be defined, the penalties for missing what those benchmarks would be have to be defined,” Peduto said.’
The local Urban Redevelopment Authority board is expected to either vote Nov. 9 on the Penguins plan for purchasing the first parcel or bring that bit of land back under the city’s control.
Photo credit: Joseph Novak / Flickr
