Pittsburgh Mayor Peduto urges URA to approve plans for Civic Arena site development

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto is urging members of the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority to approve plans for redevelopment of the former Civic Arena site that include a new $200 million headquarters for First National Bank.

The URA meets again on Thursday. Last week, its board delayed voting on the plans, causing the Penguins to announce they were pulling out of a proposed $750 million plan to redevelop the 28-acre site.

“I urge the URA board to approve this critical next step, and move this long-promised development forward,” Peduto said in a statement.

After the URA delayed voting on the project, Penguins President and CEO David Morehouse announced the team was pulling out of the project.

In a statement last week, Morehouse said the URA’s delay was disappointing because of the big impact the project will bring to the region. The project is expected to generate $11 million in direct investment in the Middle and Upper Hill District neighborhoods, Morehouse said in the statement.

Penguins officials are not commenting in advance of the URA meeting, the team’s spokesman Tom McMillan said on Wednesday.

The URA is considering plans that include the new $200 million, 26-story FNB headquarters that would anchor the development.

If the URA approves the plans, it also will allow the authority to invest $11 million in other community-driven housing and development projects in the Hill District that would come from previously approved tax abatements and parking tax diversions, Peduto said.

“This funding could be used to support the developments on Centre Avenue of minority businesses and development teams that the URA approved at its February 2020 board meeting,” Peduto said.

The agreement also would be another step to formalize a hiring center so Hill District residents and minorities can get jobs, Peduto said.

“This entire site will be providing good-paying union construction jobs,” the mayor said. “The proposed agreement also includes a commitment to long-term career-building jobs on the site to provide Hill District residents with family sustaining wages to rebuild the middle class.”

The project has been a partnership among community leaders, the URA, Sports and Exhibition Authority, the Penguins and the mayor’s office, Peduto said.

“This entire project has been driven by my clear goals of economic growth, family-sustaining jobs, investment in the historic Centre Avenue, investment in affordable housing and workforce development,” Peduto said.

The URA delayed the vote at the behest of city Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle, who represents the Hill District and serves on the URA board, to allow for more time to review the plans to affirm they were “in line with what the community’s expectations are.”

Hill District residents have long complained they have been excluded from the decision-making process.

Neither Lavelle nor members of his staff returned messages seeking comment on Wednesday. Last week, Lavelle said he was shocked when the Penguins pulled out of the project.