Funding to restore the New Granada Theater is at the center of tensions between several community groups in the Hill District.
Randall Taylor with the Hill District Consensus Group — one of several Registered Community Organizations in the neighborhood — said while he supports the theater’s restoration, there are more pressing issues to address.
“Our first priority, the city must understand, is housing,” Taylor said standing alongside a coalition of community leaders in the Hill District on Monday.
The city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority voted last week to allow developers with the Penguins' to build an 80,000-square-foot concert venue in the Lower Hill District.
Their approval, however, was contingent on several closing conditions that, among other community investments, pledged developer support for the New Granada Theater.
Per the URA’s resolution, the Penguins Foundation is required to donate $100,000 to the Hill Community Development Corporation to support the New Granada Theater and join its fundraising committee.
The resolution also obligated Live Nation — which will lease and operate the Lower Hill concert venue upon its completion — to book and promote at least 25 events at New Granada Theater annually for the first five years of its operation.
In addition, the concert venue must make up to 250 parking spaces available to New Granada Theater patrons for the first five years of operation at no cost, although that’s only on the days there is not already an event at PPG Paints Arena.
These commitments were among those the Hill CDC — which has long been part of discussions with developers in the Lower Hill — negotiated with city officials, the Pittsburgh Penguins and their developers at the Buccini Pollin Group in the lead-up to Thursday’s URA meeting.
Marimba Milliones, the Hill CDC’s president and CEO, said the organization has requested an additional $5 million from the city for the restoration of the theater, which is expected to cost $36 million.
That and other commitments are forthcoming, she added.
“[Those additional funds] are going to be critical to close on over the next 60 days,” Milliones said. “This is the most important economic development project that we have in the community, relative to jobs and housing and commercial development.”
Milliones said the Hill CDC agrees with other community groups’ concerns about sufficient affordable housing in the neighborhood, pointing to several housing-focused initiatives that have resulted from negotiations with the Penguins’ developers and elected officials.
A $2 million Housing Stabilization Fund, for instance, was put in place as a part of 2019 negotiations regarding Block E, or the parcel on which the concert venue and parking garage will be located.
Members of the Hill District Consensus Group, Hill District Collaborative and Uptown Partners of Pittsburgh, however, say they haven't been given a chance to weigh in on any of those agreements.
“There are many voices out here with many different priorities, and they need to be heard, and they need to be respected,” Taylor said.
Taylor alleged the city has already committed $2 million in taxpayer money toward the theater’s restoration as part of the URA deal, though WESA could not verify that claim.
Together, the three groups have called on Mayor Ed Gainey to hold another meeting to gather further input on stipulations tied to the Lower Hill.
