[cdc]

I highly highly doubt it. And the other bidders know it. That's why they waited until the last minute to file appeal.

I don't think it is that malicious though... Filing legal
procedings such as appeals, briefs, and motions right
before a deadline is pretty much standard operating procedure
for these guys. That is just the way lawyers work --- they
don't file things early.

Now that it is in the hands of the Court, the Court will set
the pace of the procedings...

[BMikeSci]

Did I miss something? Hasn't this project been underway for months?

NC Breaks Ground on Green Tower in Pittsburgh

Three PNC Plaza to Include 325,000 SF of Office Space & Fairmont Pittsburgh Hotel


PNC Financial Services has broken ground on Three PNC Plaza, a 780,000-square-foot mixed-use complex at Fifth Ave. and Market St. in downtown Pittsburgh.

The 23-story tower will house 325,000 square feet of office space, a 185-unit Fairmont Pittsburgh hotel, 28 residential condominiums and a 330-space parking garage. The property is contiguous to the One and Two PNC Plaza towers and adjacent to the city's Cultural District.

Upon completion, the tower is expected to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The property includes a host of sustainable development and design features, including the use of sustainable or recycled construction materials, environmentally friendly refrigerants, reduced water consumption practices, and high efficiency HVAC systems.

The tower's office space will be on the lower 14 floors, with PNC and international law firm Reed Smith splitting occupancy about 50/50. The top floors will house the residential condominiums and the Fairmont Pittsburgh, operated by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, which is scheduled to open in the summer of 2009. The hotel will feature a ballroom, fitness center and spa, and a restaurant and 12,000 square feet of meeting space on the building's lower levels.

Pittsburgh-based Oxford Development Co. is developing the project, with architectural services provided by Gensler, a San Francisco-based firm, and Pittsburgh-based Astorino.

[BMikeSci]

Does anyone know when Point State Park is scheduled to reopen? Thank god they buried that trench, now I can play frisbe there:-) With some luck PSP will actually end up some place I'll want to visit and utilize.

[hyperion1110]

Yeah, they broke ground on that many months ago. At this point, it's basically a 50 foot rectangular hole in the ground. But I think it'll be really nice when it's completed.

[Evergrey]

as much I think the Penguins are a greedy organization and the whole system of publicly funding pro sports is dysfunctional and morally bankrupt... I think from the Penguins standpoint... they have a legitimate worry in how this arena is going to be paid for... the casino appeal puts Barden's $7.5 million a year contribution in jeapordy... though each casino group offered at least that amount towards a casino... the appeal delays the timeframe for payment indefinately... I have a feeling the NHL could use this argument if they decide to let the Penguins move...


http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=ap-penguins-arena&prov=ap&type=lgns


Gov. Rendell says he'll ask NHL to stop Penguins move

March 6, 2007

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Gov. Ed Rendell says he will turn to the National Hockey League to prevent the Pittsburgh Penguins from moving, one day after the team said it had reached an impasse in negotiations with state, county and local officials to finance a new arena.

"The governor believes we have put an exceptionally attractive offer on the table," according to a statement released by Rendell's office. Later in the day, Rendell told reporters, "If they don't take it, we're going to be up in New York asking the NHL to bar the Penguins from moving."

ADVERTISEMENT


On Monday, the Penguins said they will actively pursue relocation and blamed government officials for failing to cut a new arena deal.

Owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle said the team has agreed to pay $120 million over 30 years toward a new $290 million arena and to cover any cost overruns.

The Penguins' lease at 46-year-old Mellon Arena, the oldest arena in the league, expires June 30. The Penguins have repeatedly said they may move the team, or sell it to someone who would move it, if no deal for a new arena is in place by then.

Officials in Kansas City have offered the Penguins free rent and half of all revenues if they agree to play in the soon-to-be-completed $262 million Sprint Center.

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said he believes it is in the team's best interest to stay in Pittsburgh and said a deal can be reached despite the team's frustration with negotiations so far.

[hyperion1110]

What the Penguins are doing is absurd. They are going to get their arena, in any scenario. They released the letter to enhance their bargaining position, simply that, nothing more.


Pittsburgh is a large market for hockey, in a sport that is becoming increasingly paranoid about its viability. It would be a grave mistake to move a successful franchise in a proven market to a smaller, unproven one. I doubt the NHL would approve the move.


The Penguins deserve a new arena, I agree...but their behavior, which shows complete disregard for their fans (aka their consumer base) is not only moral reprehensible, but also unwise from a business perspective.

[gbayard]

Eagles did this sort of thing on the other side of the state less than 10 years ago. It's absurd and Kansas City would be a hard audience compared to Pittsburgh who has always loved their hockey. Let the Penguins go and then let us start a new team, sign the deal with the state and make the money they would have made.

[Evergrey]

so much for an expedient resolution to the appeals... this makes the Penguins situation all the more precarious

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07066/767400-336.stm

Casinos facing new delay during appeals
Wednesday, March 07, 2007

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



The state Supreme Court won't hear arguments challenging the award of the Pittsburgh slots license until mid-May, a timetable that could further delay the opening of proposed casinos here and elsewhere in the state.

Both losing bidders for the Pittsburgh license, Forest City Enterprises and Isle of Capri Casinos Inc., have filed appeals seeking to reverse the Dec. 20 decision by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to award the casino to Don Barden and his company, PITG Gaming LLC.

Forest City and Isle of Capri are among four losing bidders to file appeals. The others are owners of the proposed Riverwalk slot machine parlor in Philadelphia, where two casino licenses were awarded, and the owners of the proposed Pocono Manor casino, challenging one of the two licenses issued outside of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Philadelphia City Council and three groups of Philadelphia residents and civic groups also have appealed.

Under a schedule issued yesterday, the Supreme Court has asked those filing appeals to submit supporting legal briefs by March 30. The gaming board will have until late April to respond.

It is anticipated that the court will hear oral arguments on the appeals starting May 14 in Harrisburg. It is not known how soon after that it will rule.

The timetable could create further delays for the proposed Pittsburgh casino, even if Mr. Barden keeps the license. He already has pushed back his opening date from March 2008 to summer 2008 because of the time it took for the board to issue formal orders awarding licenses and for the 30-day appeals period to run its course.

PITG Gaming officials have been saying the schedule for opening the casino is 14 months from the end of the appeals period. Even if the court were to rule immediately after hearing arguments in mid-May, which is unlikely, that would push back the opening to mid-July.

If the court takes longer, the delay in opening could run into the fall.

Bob Oltmanns, spokesman for Mr. Barden, declined comment yesterday.

Christopher Craig, legal counsel to state Sen. Vincent Fumo, D-Philadelphia, one of the architects of the state slots law, said rulings from the court after oral arguments "could be as quick as a month or it could take much longer. It really depends on the nature of the case."

Mr. Craig called the appeals timetable set up by the court "extremely fast." The state's slots gambling law established an expedited review process that allowed casino appeals to bypass Commonwealth Court, the normal starting point, and go directly to the Supreme Court.

The schedule "really does signal the court is seeking to move these appeals and resolve them on a fast track," Mr. Craig said. "It's way shorter than how things could be held up if we didn't write the law so [an appeal] leaps over the Commonwealth Court stage."

Nonetheless, Joseph Weinert, senior vice president of Spectrum Gaming Group, an industry consultant, said there's a "very real possibility" that the appeals will result in construction delays, even if the awards are upheld.

"Most likely companies are going to be hesitant to put such tremendous capital at work given the potential risk of an adverse court decision," he said. "You don't want to start sinking millions of dollars in the ground with the possibility that it could be overturned."

If the Pittsburgh award is upheld, Mr. Barden plans to build a $435 million casino along the waterfront on the North Shore, between the West End Bridge and Carnegie Science Center.

In its appeal, Isle of Capri asked the court to reverse the gaming board and award it the license. Forest City, doing business as Station Square Gaming, is asking the court to send the matter back to the gaming board for further action.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262. )

[Evergrey]

Las Vegas is now in the running... NHL in Sin City? this has got to be some cruel joke...

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07066/767364-53.stm

Penguins owners taking a look at Las Vegas today
Wednesday, March 07, 2007

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



The Penguins will travel to Las Vegas today to explore a possible move, as state and local leaders try to arrange a meeting with the team to get talks here back on track.

Las Vegas is one of three cities interested in talking to the team after Penguins co-owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle sent a letter to Gov. Ed Rendell, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl on Monday declaring an impasse in negotiations and saying they would "aggressively" consider relocation.

Team officials also are hoping to set up a meeting this week, possibly in Los Angeles, with representatives of Anschutz Entertainment Group, manager of the $276 million Sprint Center being built in Kansas City. They also are trying to set up a meeting in Houston, another city trying to attract a National Hockey League team.

At the same time, Mr. Rendell, Mr. Onorato and Mr. Ravenstahl are hoping to meet with all principals, including Mr. Lemieux and Mr. Burkle, possibly tomorrow in Philadelphia, to try to salvage a deal they have described as close to being done.

"This is a priority for us. There's a lot of flexibility in our calendars. We're going to try to get this done," Mr. Onorato said. "Let's get back in a room, find out what triggered the letter. Let's get that resolved and let's close the deal."

Despite the letter declaring an impasse, Mr. Ravenstahl insisted yesterday that the two sides were close to an agreement on funding a new arena. He said the parties need to "sit down, talk about the specifics, find out where we're not in agreement, and go from there."

He said he expected National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman, who has served as a go-between the last two weeks, to be part of any new round of talks.

In Las Vegas, the Penguins are expected to talk with Mayor Oscar Goodman, who first met with National Hockey League officials several years ago in a bid to land a franchise.

The team's arena situation in Las Vegas may not be much better than it is in Pittsburgh. At least initially, the team most likely would play in the 23-year-old Thomas & Mack Center, site of the recent National Basketball Association All-Star Game.

In remarks before the game, NBA Commissioner David Stern said the league would not return to the arena. He said it was "not suitable for future All-Star events" and "not equipped to hold major league events." NBA officials also had complaints about power and lighting capacity.

Mr. Goodman claims to have five groups interested in investing in an arena, but there is no firm timetable for construction or even a deal to get one built. There's also been a continuing concern about locating a professional sports franchise in a city that allows betting on pro sports.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Goodman would not confirm today's meeting with representatives from the Penguins.

In Houston, no meeting has been set up so far. But Patrick Trahan, a spokesman for Mayor Bill White, said the mayor's office has extended an invitation to talk to the team about a possible move "when the time was right."

Officials in Houston have been trying to attract an NHL team to play in the Toyota Center, an arena that opened in 2003 and is home to the NBA Houston Rockets and the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League.

The frontrunner in a potential relocation is Kansas City, where the $276 million Sprint Center is nearing completion and will be available next season. The Penguins are being offered a deal that includes no rent, no construction costs and a split of building revenues with AEG.

AEG spokesman Michael Roth had no comment on the situation with the Penguins yesterday.

In declaring an impasse Monday, Mr. Lemieux and Mr. Burkle said the team had agreed to put up $4 million a year toward a new arena -- $3.6 million a year in rent and $400,000 a year in funding for capital expenses. The Penguins also are adding $500,000 a year for a new parking garage.

The $4 million is exactly the same as Mr. Rendell asked the team to contribute last year under the proposed Plan B funding formula.

Other major financial elements also appear to be in place -- $7.5 million a year for 30 years from Pittsburgh casino winner Don Barden and $7.5 million annually from a gambling-backed state economic development fund, up $500,000 from the initial Plan B proposal.

Despite that, the two sides have been unable to work out a deal, leading many to wonder exactly what the holdup was. Asked about that, the mayor replied, "Numbers are numbers, and they present numbers perhaps in a different way than we present numbers."

Mr. Ravenstahl would not rule out an appeal to the NHL to block a relocation by the Penguins if the team tried to move. Mr. Rendell made the same point in interviews in Philadelphia yesterday, although a spokesman played down the threat, saying it would be a "last resort kind of thing."

"It's important to emphasize they're still trying to work this thing out," spokesman Chuck Ardo said.

The Penguins have expressed frustration as much with the tone of the talks as the substance.

Sources close to the team indicated one of the final straws came Friday, when the state refused to share interest rate information in a dispute over whether more money is needed in the financing package. They're concerned that the antagonistic tone could carry over if issues arise during construction. The Penguins co-owners said in their letter, "We can do no more."

Mr. Onorato, who said it "truly was a shock" to get Monday's letter, said one reason he wants to meet quickly is to find out exactly what is bothering the team and get it resolved.

He acknowledged there "seems to be a big disconnect" in the way the public officials have viewed the negotiations as opposed to the Penguins.

"There's been so much movement in the last month, I thought it was positive movement," he said.

Mr. Rendell said last week one of the few remaining outstanding issues was how to account for an extra $20 million added as a contingency to a proposed arena bond issue. That increased the amount of the bond issue from $270 million to $290 million.

The Penguins also have a concern about the impact the losers' appeals of the Pittsburgh slots license award will have on funding, although both Mr. Onorato and Mr. Ravenstahl indicated it would not be a major impediment.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Rich Lord contributed to this report. Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262. )

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07066/767367-53.stm

Risks over arena great for public officials and franchise
Wednesday, March 07, 2007

By James O'Toole, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



The Penguins' latest declaration that they are seeking a home beyond Pittsburgh may have been an authentic expression of eight years of frustrating negotiations, but it was also a calculated effort to boost pressure on state and local officials to resolve, once and for all, their quest for a new arena.

The talks, which may resume tomorrow, pose significant, though varying, degrees of political risk for the three officeholders involved, just as they carry substantial business and public relations risks for the franchise.

For Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, the flight of the flightless birds would offer a ready-made issue to his mayoral challenger, Councilman William Peduto.

Mr. Peduto, who has been a passionate hockey fan since growing up in Scott down the block from former Penguins player Lowell McDonald, seized on the latest development yesterday, blaming Mr. Ravenstahl for taking a back seat to Gov. Ed Rendell and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato throughout the talks.

He contrasted what he characterized as a subsidiary role by the mayor with the leading one played by former Mayor Tom Murphy in the negotiations that produced PNC Park and Heinz Field.

Mr. Ravenstahl, who said he had reached out to the Penguins in response to their letter declaring an impasse in the arena talks, rejected his rival's critique, noting the central financial role of the state in any prospective deal.

"Without the governor at the table, there's absolutely no way we could be in discussions to keep the team here," he said.

Mr. Onorato has no similar short-term jeopardy. His re-election is all but assured with no Republican opponent and only a long-shot challenge from community organizer Richard Swartz for the Democratic nomination.

Mr. Onorato is widely seen as having ambitions beyond the courthouse, however. The departure of the popular sports franchise could complicate those plans. Mr. Onorato has led a relatively charmed public life since taking over as the county's second chief executive.

By introducing a base-year system for property tax assessments, he finessed an issue that had dogged county officials for decades. He recently welcomed the news that US Airways had decided to locate its expended operations center in the county. But the Penguins issue could turn into a hurdle on a potential road to higher office.

From a purely political perspective, the arena issue was a bigger potential problem for Mr. Rendell before his landslide re-election last year.

His opponent, Lynn Swann, joined a long list of politicians of both parties in embracing the casino bid of Isle of Capri, then the Penguins' partner, which pledged to build a new arena in return for the awarding of a slot machine license.

Mr. Rendell took the lead in crafting the so-called Plan B, wherein all three of Pittsburgh's slots bidders were asked to help finance a new arena. He is barred from seeking a third term as governor, so the talks could do little to cloud his personal ambition.

Their resolution, could, at most, have a marginal, intangible impact on the clout he brings to battles over broader state issues. A popular governor is in a better position than an unpopular one in asking for tough votes on such issues as health care or the budget.

"I think the political stakes for the governor are certainly less than they are for the two local officials running for re-election, but having said that, the governor ... has worked hard on this project because it is important to Western Pennsylvania,'' said Chuck Ardo, a spokesman for Mr. Rendell. "It's got less to do with politics than it does with the fact that he thinks it's important for Pittsburgh to have a hockey team."

Despite the impression that might be conveyed by the callers to sports talk radio, the political pressure on public officials concerning the Penguins does not come solely from one side.

Mr. Peduto invoked the former Mayor Mr. Murphy in his criticism of Mr. Ravenstahl. But among the political problems that assailed Mr. Murphy in the latter part of his administration was enduring criticism of his role in championing public financing for the North Shore sports facilities.

In the run-up to last year's elections, Western Pennsylvania voters were the targets of polling on almost every conceivable public issue. If those surveys had found big majorities favoring public financing of the arena, local and state politicians would be lining up behind such proposals, making the Penguins talks easier for all sides.

But the issue is a double-edged sword to politicians.

"Who lost the Penguins?" could become to Pittsburgh politics what "Who lost China?" was to the national political debate of the 1950s, a source of never-ending, unresolvable bickering.

At the same time, as the fate of Mr. Murphy and former county Commissioners Bob Cranmer and Mike Dawida suggests, there is political peril in being perceived as having given away the store to a sports franchise.

In a reflection of that reality, under the outline of Plan B, a pledge of $7.5 million in gaming proceeds from the eventual Pittsburgh casino winner, Majestic Star, along with other gaming-generated revenues and a substantial contribution from the team, are the heart of the financing deal still on the table. The political players have emphasized repeatedly that the proposal does not depend on tax dollars.

The prospect of the Penguins' exit raises the question of what would happen to the Majestic Star portion of that revenue stream. Even though Isle of Capri lost out on the slots license, it was a political and public relations achievement on its part and that of the casino operator's allies, the Penguins, that a public consensus developed early that arena financing was an appropriate goal for slots revenue.

Part of the argument was that this was private money rather than tax dollars. But if that revenue stream is not needed for a new arena, would it be available for some other public purpose? Officials close to the talks disagreed on whether it could be redirected or simply added to Majestic Star's prospective profits.

"That's highly speculative," said Bob Oltmanns, a Majestic Star spokesman.

While they don't have to worry about the next election, the Penguins aren't immune from risk in this situation. Mario Lemieux will always be a Pittsburgh sports legend. Whatever happens with the team, he won't be a contender for the pariah status Art Modell assumed in Cleveland with the exit of the Ravens, nee Browns. But the prospect of the Kansas City Penguins, or the Las Vegas Penguins, would inevitably complicate his relationship with an adopted home whose team he saved on the ice and in the front office.

From a business standpoint, the lease details offered by Kansas City seem favorable to the team. And with its current makeup, the odds are that a winning, young team could sell tickets in any sizable city, at least in the near term. The real danger for the team in a new city is whether it could cultivate the long-term fan base that allowed the team to attract crowds even in its down years. That relationship, built over decades, will be at risk for all sides as the brinkmanship over the arena continues.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Politics Editor James O'Toole can be reached at jotoole@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1562. )

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07066/767418-194.stm

Bob Smizik: Political futures may hinge on arena deal
Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The two most nervous men in town these days have to be Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. They're nervous because their bright political futures, which could take them well beyond their current positions, are in jeopardy.

Onorato is said to be eyeing the 2010 governor's race, where he certainly would be a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination. Ravenstahl, less than a year in office, doesn't yet have those ambitions. But he's a heavy favorite to be elected mayor in November, and, with his youth, likability quotient and the high name recognition he'll eventually have, it's not hard to see him in Congress some day or succeeding Onorato as governor.

But there's a major obstacle in the path of these ambitions. It's so large, in fact, it could make their current jobs their last ones in the public sector.

No one wants to be the man on whose watch a major sports franchise leaves town. That's one of the reasons the politicians went against the wishes of the voters and funded new stadiums for the Steelers and Pirates. But that's where Onorato and Ravenstahl are today. They are perilously close to being remembered as the top two elected officials in the region who let the Penguins get away.

If that happens, there is a small but highly vocal and deeply passionate Penguins fan base that would do everything in its power to have Onorato and Ravenstahl defeated the next time they dare run for office. Beyond that, people who believe sports are important to the region also will take a dim view of the Penguins leaving and feel new leadership is needed.

The Penguins, blessed with massive leverage because they are coveted by at least one other city, flexed their muscles Monday and pronounced the current talks for a new arena at an "impasse" and said they would "aggressively explore relocation."

Kansas City here we come.

Onorato and Ravenstahl, along with Gov. Ed Rendell, are on the other side of the table from the Penguins in these negotiations. This very position alone has made them unpopular with fans so dazed by the possible loss of the Penguins they can't think straight. It is incumbent on Onorato and Ravenstahl to get a deal done or be labeled as the politicians who lost the Penguins. Rendell is the major power broker in these talks, but he's in his final term as governor and said he has no ambitions to run for office again. Onorato and Ravenstahl are the ones with the most to lose.

The solution is not as simple as it appears. A deal needs to be done, but not in terms so favorable to the Penguins that the city and county will look like losers. Although Penguins fans have been extremely vocal in lending support to a new arena, they are enormously outnumbered by those who might care whether the team stays but in no circumstances want to see public money go to a private business, particularly one that has Ron Burkle, whose worth is estimated at $2.5 billion, in the ownership group.

The dilemma for Onorato and Ravenstahl is this: If the Penguins leave, they'll be smashed, trashed and bashed by supporters of the team. If the Penguins stay with too good a deal -- one, say, that included RAD tax money -- the silent majority could erupt with equal venom at the polls.

Make no mistake, despite all the hollering by Penguins fans and the team's too-ardent supporters in the media, most people prefer to see public money going back into their pockets in the form of property-tax relief. They'll accept a reasonable deal, but not one too loaded in favor of the team.

As the deal is currently constructed, about $15 million annually is slated to go into funding for an arena from slots revenue. There are a lot of people who would prefer to see that money going toward tax relief or improved public services, such as more police. Fifteen million dollars buys a lot of policemen.

Onorato and Ravenstahl have to get back to the table and get a deal done that will keep the Penguins and still save them face with the majority of the voters. All the leverage is not with the Penguins. Kansas City is not the perfect solution. It might be great for two or three years, but the NHL has failed there once -- as have the NBA and MLB -- and a long-term deal would be filled with the kind of future doubts that don't exist in Pittsburgh.

But the two local leaders cannot be dismissive about the Penguins' wishes. If the Penguins leave, the approximately $4 million they are scheduled to put toward arena funding goes with them. Without that $4 million, an arena, at least the kind that would attract an NHL or NBA team, does not get built.

Onorato and Ravenstahl are on the spot. They need to get this deal done soon, done right and done so Penguins fans and average citizens are pleased with the outcome.

Their futures are at stake.

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07066/767319-192.stm

Keep talking: Pittsburgh has the power to keep the Penguins
Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

No one within shouting distance should be convinced that we've seen the last of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Yet no one should just take it for granted that this deal will get done.

Now that the hockey team's owners have declared the talks toward funding a new arena at "an impasse," compelling them to "aggressively explore relocation," a reality check has been served on this community and on the elected leaders who are trying to come to terms with the wildly popular franchise.

This is not one of those sports teams, like others around the country, that can't fill seats or excite fans. Most nights Mellon Arena is packed to the ceiling, whether the Penguins are winning or losing -- and the team's championship prospects, given its formidable young talent, will only grow. This enterprise has real value to Pittsburgh.

It does not play in one of those venues, like other civic centers, that is merely not the newest or not the shiniest. The arena is flat-out the oldest facility in the National Hockey League and, even if it doesn't continue to host a professional sports team, the flying-saucer-shaped building that opened in the days of JFK is outmoded for even its other uses and will need replacement in the not-distant future.

The opportunity to use the dawn of slots-machine gambling in Pennsylvania, not to mention the sale of hockey tickets, as a way to pay for the bulk of a new public arena for Pittsburgh could not have been better timed. Regardless of which bidder wins this city's casino license, formulas are in place and agreements are in hand that will deliver the dollars needed to build the new facility.

That is why, all things considered, we don't think the Penguins want to leave Pittsburgh for an uncertain future in an untested location. We don't think the public wants to lose the excitement generated by the team or the chance to get a new arena built largely with casino and hockey dollars. We also don't think Ed Rendell, Dan Onorato and Luke Ravenstahl want to be known as the troika who let the Penguins get away.

The governor, the county chief executive and the mayor themselves have to get back to the bargaining table with the team owners themselves and finish the deal. Incredible progress has been made on the agreement's major terms, but time is running out. Pennsylvania, Allegheny County and Pittsburgh have to bring the rest of the talks to a successful finish -- with no more table-pounding by anyone.

[Evergrey]

though this was an interesting perspective on our downtown boom


http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07066/767295-109.stm

Students can help reinvigorate Downtown
Redevelopment plans must appeal to our large and growing college population
Wednesday, March 07, 2007

By Patricia E. Farrell

Let's take three snapshots in time of a weekday evening in Downtown Pittsburgh:

Twenty-five years ago -- Late afternoons and early evenings, bars and restaurants are brimming with young executives and workers from major manufacturing corporations such as Westinghouse and Gulf, many holding shopping bags from Horne's and Kaufmann's.

Today -- When dark descends at the end of the workday, people get in cars and on buses to queue up at traffic bottlenecks, and the restaurants close their shutters, save those few catering to travelers and ticket-holders to cultural events. Most people exiting Downtown are employed at banks, government offices, professional services firms and small companies. Those who aren't headed straight for home are likely going to the South Side, the Strip or The Waterfront.

Ten years from now -- The early evening bustles with bars, small ethnic restaurants, fast-food joints, live music clubs and youth-oriented shops and boutiques, packed not with permanent adult Downtown residents, but with students.

While Downtown residential development gets the lion's share of the publicity, at the end of the day, the growing influx of students and student housing may end up doing more to define the future of Downtown, a future in which the former haven for corporate headquarters begins to resemble a college town.

The importance of student housing in the future of Downtown becomes clear when one takes a close look at the projects under construction in the Golden Triangle. While there may be hundreds of residential units in the conceptual, planning or financing stages, only 350 residential units in the Golden Triangle currently are under construction or were completed in the last quarter of 2006. All other projects are somewhere on drafting boards. By contrast, 405 student-housing units are being built or were completed in the fourth quarter of last year.

Between Point Park University and the Art Institute of Pittsburgh alone, more than 6,000 students mill around Downtown during the day. That's about 6 percent of the people who work in the Golden Triangle.

Not only do these students attend school Downtown, they also eat, shop and look for something to do before, between or after classes. Sixteen hundred of these students already are living Downtown in existing student housing. These numbers do not include the thousands more students of proprietary trade schools or those at the two colleges bordering Downtown, Duquesne University and the Uptown campus of Robert Morris University.

These numbers explain why in recent years, the corporate vice president in a prim wool business suit waiting for the light to change at Grant Street and the Boulevard of the Allies is standing next to a T-shirted teenaged man with three earrings in one ear who is listing to one side under the weight of a backpack full of books. These incongruous scenes of diversity will become more common in coming years.

Higher education, in general, is beginning to assume center spotlight in the Western Pennsylvania economy, as all of our universities continue to attract more students, develop new programs, engage in cutting-edge research and build partnerships with the private sector. It seems only natural that the growth of this important economic sector would spread Downtown.

The student invasion of Downtown Pittsburgh will challenge both the traditional corporate community and civic planners. Downtown, long built to cater to button-downed corporate tastes, will become more diverse not just in the types of people one sees in the streets, but also in the retail businesses and entertainment venues that serve them. Students and business people typically eat different food, like different entertainment and wear different clothing.

It's important that our planning for Downtown development take into account these differences and seek to lure developers and retailers who can add attractions to Downtown that will serve the residential student population and entice commuter students to stay Downtown after classes. Having a large population of students will energize Downtown, but only if we welcome them with open arms.

While the economic development efforts focused on building residential units and developing amenities for adult residents are laudable, in our rush to serve a population we want to come Downtown, let's not forget to also focus efforts on serving a population that is already here and growing in numbers.

Patricia E. Farrell, a commercial real estate attorney at Meyer, Unkovic & Scott LLP, has represented developers undertaking Downtown projects (pef@muslaw.com).

[Evergrey]

sounds like the Las Vegas and Houston opportunities are quite inferior... KC and its new rent-free arena seems to be the only real challenger

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/penguins/s_496372.html

Pens threaten road trip to Houston, Vegas, KC

By Andrew Conte and Rob Rossi
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, March 7, 2007


State and local officials are scrambling to meet this week with Penguins team owners -- even as the NHL franchise starts making good on a promise to aggressively look for a new hometown.
Gov. Ed Rendell's office reached out Tuesday to team owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle, seeking to set up his first face-to-face meeting with them since Jan. 18. The two sides tentatively agreed to meet Thursday in Philadelphia.

The state has put an "extremely attractive offer on the table," said Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo. Later, Rendell told reporters he would seek help from the National Hockey League if needed.

"If they don't take it, we're going to be up in New York asking the NHL to bar the Penguins from moving," Rendell told The Associated Press.





Lemieux and Burkle on Monday declared an impasse in the talks over how to pay for a new Uptown arena and said they would "aggressively explore relocation." The team owners said they perceived a "lack of collaboration" from the public officials.

Team spokesman Tom McMillan declined to comment. But sources close to the Penguins said the team owners would look at several options for relocating -- with a possible visit to Las Vegas today.

Houston officials have contacted the Penguins about visiting there. And it's believed that Burkle has talked privately with Tim Leiweke, president of AEG, the company that operates Kansas City's Sprint Center.

The Penguins' lease at Mellon Arena expires in June. Team owners have not filed for relocation with the NHL.

"We're trying to get back on track," said Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, who said public officials were "surprised" by the Penguins' statements. "All the parties are trying to communicate. The sooner the better."

It's likely the Penguins will find the grass is greener in other cities -- but not that much greener, said Marc Ganis, president of Chicago-based consulting firm Sportscorp.

Then the team and local officials must decide what they're willing to do to close the deal.

"The question has to be asked of political leaders and the Penguins: Are they comfortable losing the deal at these dollars, at these terms?" Ganis said.

The two sides have agreed on a basic arena offer, but Rendell is "willing to work toward making it more acceptable," Ardo said.

It's been nearly a year since Rendell pitched his alternate arena financing proposal -- Plan B -- and by the Penguins' accounts, they have gained little through negotiating.

In the original plan, the team would have paid $8.5 million up front and $2.9 million a year for 30 years, while forgoing $1.16 million a year in naming rights.

Team officials said the latest version eliminates the up-front payment but requires the team to pay $3.6 million a year in rent, plus $400,000 a year in capital improvements. The Penguins also would pay $500,000 a year to build a parking garage.

The state has increased its annual contributions by $500,000, to $7.5 million a year. Majestic Star Casino, which won the license to build a North Shore slots parlor, would pay $7.5 million a year.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said yesterday that an arena deal remains possible.

"We're going to continue to talk about the Penguins and continue to negotiate in good faith," Ravenstahl said. "I still believe that we are very close to getting this deal. It's my hope we can all get back together soon to continue the discussions in a proactive manner and ultimately reach a deal."

In Las Vegas, the facility director for that city's Thomas & Mack Center, where the Penguins would play, said team officials had not contacted him.

Daren Libonati said he has started booking the arena for fall venues and could not alter those plans around the Penguins' possible arrival. Libonati said the venue would not provide the Penguins any non-hockey revenue.

Houston officials, meanwhile, are hoping to give Lemieux and Burkle an offer by today, said Michael Moore, chief of staff to Mayor Bill White.

"They are interested in us," Moore told the Houston Chronicle. "We are obviously interested in them, too. The ball is in their court right now. But we very much recognize this as an opportunity."

Houston officials contacted the Penguins Monday afternoon. If they relocated, the Penguins would play in the Toyota Center, sharing it with the National Basketball Association's Rockets, who control revenue streams at the facility.

In Kansas City, Lemieux and Burkle could talk again with Leiweke and other AEG officials. The team owners traveled to Kansas City Jan. 3 and 4 to look at the Sprint Center, which is scheduled to open for the start of the 2007-08 NHL season.

Burkle and Leiweke are neighbors in the suburbs of Beverly Hills, Calif., and Burkle owns a luxury suite at Staples Center, which Leiweke's AEG operates. Leiweke serves on the NHL's board of governors.



Andrew Conte and Rob Rossi can be reached at aconte@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7835.

[hyperion1110]

Though this is a slight divergence for this forum, I really think innovations like this are the future of Pittsburgh. And I think it says something, too, that the world's 4th most economically powerful country, Germany, has such an overwhelmingly strong presence here.


http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07066/767282-28.stm


Siemens readies fuel cell as source of power

Wednesday, March 07, 2007
By David Templeton, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Tidy, efficient electricity production will rule the world's energy future, and Siemens' solid oxide fuel cell is leading the way.

The Churchill company's fuel cell doesn't spew pollutants into the atmosphere, and what carbon dioxide it does produce can be captured and sequestered.

But, best of all, Siemens' system uses fossil fuels -- in particular, coal -- more efficiently than the coal-fired power plants lining the Monongahela and Ohio rivers. Its fuel cell can reach 90-percent efficiency compared with 45 to 55 percent for existing power plants -- almost twice the power from each pound of fuel.

With its parent company Siemens AG based in Germany, Siemens Stationary Fuel Cells plans by 2012 to build a prototype plant in Baden-Wurttemberg, a state in southern Germany, to show off its fuel-cell technology to the world.

Thomas Flower, president of Siemens Stationary Fuel Cells, said the room-sized plant will operate like a large battery that endlessly produces electricity as long as fuel is provided. Separating air and fuel with a permeable membrane allows them to react in a controlled process that directly produces electricity without typical combustion. That means more energy turns into electricity rather than the light and heat wasted by combustion.

The proposed "Energy Baden-Wurttemberg" plant will generate up to 21/2 megawatts of power -- enough to power 2,500 homes.

If the technology were used in the Pittsburgh region, as many as 200 fuel-cell plants might be necessary. But each would be a small, unassuming structure that could blend into any neighborhood or community.

With success in Germany and efforts to lower cost, the company would begin mass production of fuel cells for a market anxious for improved technology, which will have global implications in light of the International Panel on Climate Change report that says human-generated greenhouse gases are causing global warming.

As such, Dr. Flower said, the company's fuel cell has "ubiquitous" potential.

"We're not expecting to replace all the power generators with fuel cells," he said. "But could that happen? Yes."

Explaining Siemens' solid oxide fuel cell requires some science.

Siemens' fuel cell initially used a tube with air in its core, but latest advances have replaced the tube with eight triangular, or delta, channels. Each channel features two electrode layers and one electrolyte layer.

In a fuel cell, fuel and air are separated by a thin, permeable membrane called an electrolyte. As air flows through the inner cell channels at elevated temperatures, oxygen becomes negatively charged and works its way through the electrolyte membrane, which boosts the voltage of the cell current. That's another way of saying electrical power is produced.

In addition, on the fuel side of the membrane, the oxygen reacts with the fuel to form steam and carbon dioxide. The high temperature and pressure of the steam and carbon dioxide can be used to power a turbine to produce additional electricity.

The only major byproducts are water and carbon dioxide, which the system can be equipped to capture for sequestration. Dr. Flower said the fuel cell generates electricity in a subdued, controlled manner.

Other advantages include its size -- from the size of refrigerator to a large room. The only noise comes from a blower. By avoiding outright combustion the fuel cell eliminates nitrogen oxide -- the pollutant that causes acid rain.

"It does away with the intermediate steps" of combustion necessary in power plants that burn coal and other carbon-based fuels, Dr. Flower said. Fuel efficiency improves at higher production levels in larger fuel cells.

Yet more energy can be produced by capturing heat the process generates, which can be used to produce hot water or steam, Dr. Flower said. Steam or hot water can be piped to neighboring hotels, hospitals or linen services. If there's no nearby demand, surplus energy could power gas turbines to increase efficiency of the system.

The key, Dr. Flower said, is creating electricity without combustion.

The company has produced fuel-cell prototypes. One, a 5-kilowatt system the size of a refrigerator, was installed late last year in Phipps Conservatory, where it uses natural gas to heat water for tropical plants.

In the meantime, Siemens is busy reducing cost and boosting the size of its fuel cell in preparation for the Baden-Wurttemberg plant project.

With help from the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory in South Park, the company also is focusing on reliability and cost.

"From the DOE perspective, Siemens is a very important player in the complete fuel cell picture," said Wayne Surdoval, NETL's technology manager for fuel cells. "We respect their technology quite a bit. It tends to be mature. They are very experienced in this and have been working on technology a number of years under the DOE."

The DOE is helping develop fuel cell technology in a strategy to cut U.S. reliance on foreign oil. One goal is to use gasified coal to power fuel cells.

"Siemens' fuel cells are pretty reliable," Mr. Surdoval said. "The fuel cell is the most efficient thing to use, and the type of fuel cell that Siemens created is the most efficient of all.

"Fuel cells definitely will play a big part in the energy future," Mr. Surdoval said.

[BMikeSci]

Why not take the $276,000,0000 or so that we need for the new arena and fix the sidewalks and roads. To hell with the Penguins. I'm sure there must be another team or something that could fill the existing arena just as well - especially since it is on the small side. People love sports here, so I'm sure any good organization would have a huge fan base here in no time. What leagues are looking to expand?

[hyperion1110]

The only "major" teams Pgh does not currently have are basketball and soccer...and I don't think either one would be very popular here. And if we lose the Penguins, we get bumped to the bottom of the list of cities wishing for an NHL team.


Though I understand what you're saying, Pittsburgh needs to do everything it can to keep the Penguins.

[BANKofMANHATTAN]

As i stated before, they should have updated the venue that is used the most first. Between 3Rivers Stadium & Civic Arena, it'd be the Civic - it is constantly being used for hockey games, shows, concerts, motorcross, and other events year-round. What is Heinz or PNC Park generating during off season?? It's amazing what you can do when you build a building (a domed field or arena) that's multi-functional. The uses are a lot less limited than building a structure for one specific reason.

Yes, I like when football/baseball is played outside in the traditional way, but i think we could have kept them together in a new facility and used the extra space for other attractions/developments. Then we may have had some more capital to put towards a new arena. The last time i was at the Civic Arena, the chairs were disgusting. I might as well have turned my ass inside out and sat on it!

Now we're just getting everyone into the mix with this trying to up their political status and wasting time.

Sort it out.

And maybe if it's not TOO MUCH trouble, get some salt plows out there.
I don't know if they noticed, but it SNOWED!

[B4burgh]

I really don't think they even thought about the Civic arena when they built Heinz and PNC. Pittsburgh tends to address issues when they come up and at that point both the Pirates and the Steelers were threatening to move and you couldn't give one a stadium without the other. Pittsburgh has had basketball teams both the Pittsburgh Condors and the Pipers were part of the ABA and eventually moved.

[BMikeSci]

Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! Come sweaty varlets, scriveners, senators, vestrymen, chirurgeons, chymists, draymen, ironmongers and suchlike! Awake to the crisis. Attend to the disgrace and peril of our state.

[BMikeSci]

Economic panel, development position on Ravenstahl's agenda
Pittsburgh Business Times - 2:29 PM EST Tuesday, March 6, 2007
by Dan Reynolds

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl on Tuesday announced additional steps designed to create a more focused business attraction and retention effort by the City of Pittsburgh.

Accompanied by his new economic development director Patrick Ford, members of the Urban Redevelopment Authority and neighborhood development groups, Ravenstahl unveiled plans to create a city-focused economic development panel and a new economic development position.


Ravenstahl said he plans on hiring a new Business Attraction and Recruitment Team, or BART, manager within the month. That person would report to Ford and would act along with Ford as a liaison between the city's economic development team and such entities as the Allegheny County Department of Economic Development, the state's Department of Community and Economic Development and the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh.

Ravenstahl said the position would also act as the point person for business owners seeking assistance with permits, zoning, parking, public safety and other city-administered functions.

Ravenstahl also announced that he plans to assemble a 12-member economic development panel comprised of real estate professionals, engineers, architects and other business leaders to advise the mayor's office on business recruitment.

Ravenstahl said the hirings would provide a link between the mayor's office and those organizations that he believes is lacking.

"This will be focused primarily and solely on City of Pittsburgh businesses and small business districts of which the state DCED and the county economic programs really don't apply," Ravenstahl said. Ravenstahl said another goal was "really tangible communication and one on one communication between small business owners and the City of Pittsburgh government, which I think is really important."

Ford agreed that communication between the mayor's office and city and state economic development agencies has been lacking.

"What has been absent in the City of Pittsburgh is a framework by which we can channel our priorities through our budget to the Department of Community and Economic Development to make sure that when they give us money we can insure that we are getting multiple gains for every dollar that they give us," Ford said. "What has been absent in addition to those communications links has been a systematic approach to create an environment that is conducive to business."

dreynolds@bizjournals.com | (412) 208-3827

[BMikeSci]

PennDOT Cutbacks Mean Fewer Plows on the Road
Monday, March 5, 5:18 p.m.
By Jon Meyer

Did a statewide campaign to save taxpayer's money lead to the mess on the interstates during the Valentine's Day storm and put people's lives at risk? When the storm stranded thousands of drivers on the interstates there were fewer snowplows out on the road.

The reported cutbacks come after the state put a program into effect that was supposed to save taxpayers millions.

The numbers obtained by Newswatch 16 are already catching the attention of Harrisburg.

The state launched a program in 2004 to make PennDOT more streamlined. It's called MECE, or Maintenance Efficiency and Cost Effectiveness.

State Senator Roger Madigan of Bradford County heads the senate transportation committee. He said, "We're told the MECE program was to make PennDOT more efficient. Certainly it didn't."

Thousands of people were stranded on the interstates after the Valentine's Day storm, the first big snowfall since PennDOT began it's plow truck cut-back in 2003.

At a hearing two weeks ago, the head of PennDOT told Senator Lisa Baker of Luzerne County he would get her information about any plow truck reductions.

"We have not yet received a formal response about that. Certainly we need to know if we were deploying appropriate resources to handle that kind of storm. We need to look at if the department has made decisions to cutback in some areas," Senator Baker said.

A source inside PennDOT showed Newswatch 16 truck numbers in some of the areas where interstates closed:

In Lackawanna County PennDOT has 14 fewer plow trucks than four years ago, down 24 percent.
In Luzerne County, down 33 trucks, or 34 percent.
In Schuylkill County, 29 fewer trucks, or 43 percent.
Berks County, where Interstate 78 was closed , is down 27 plows, or 37 percent.
Statewide our source said there are 571 fewer PennDOT and rental trucks, down 25 percent.
Senator Baker reacted to the numbers. "We're anxious to hear from the administration and look forward to correct whatever deficiencies there were," she said.

A PennDOT spokesperson said that agency isn't answering any more of our questions regarding the storm until a governor's office investigation is complete. Senator Baker said she's awaiting more answers from PennDOT too. So she and Senator Madigan from Bradford County are sending a letter to the governor, asking for specific answers.

There are 25 questions, among them, a request for information on plow truck reductions and MECE as a whole.

"The public is demanding that we get the answers and we're determined to working to address that," Baker added.

The senators from our area know there were likely a combination of problems that led to all the troubles on the road last month. We now await the governor's report.

While PennDOT isn't commenting now, one thing it has bragged about in the past is that the MECE efficiency program would save Pennsylvania taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07067/767816-53.stm

Penguins owners will meet with officials, NHL chief today in Philadelphia
Thursday, March 08, 2007

By Mark Belko and Tom Barnes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Penguins officials will meet with state and local leaders today in Philadelphia in what could be a pivotal moment in deciding whether the team stays here or moves elsewhere next season

Penguins co-owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle will meet with Gov. Ed Rendell, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.

The stakes are so high that National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman, who has been serving as a go-between for the last three weeks, will sit in on the negotiations.

The fact that the meeting is being held in Mr. Rendell's hometown, known for its rough-and-tumble style, is not lost on team officials. Sources close to the Penguins warn privately that Mr. Rendell's style may not be ideally suited for this delicate stage of the talks and said a more collegial approach could hasten the conclusion of negotiations.

A day after vowing that political leaders may go to the NHL to block a move of the team, Mr. Rendell softened his tone yesterday, saying he was "still optimistic" the Penguins would remain in Pittsburgh.

"I think we're pretty close. And I'm looking forward to the next meeting as hopefully even wrapping it up," he told reporters in Harrisburg.

Today's hastily arranged make-or-break session comes four days after Mr. Lemieux and Mr. Burkle declared an impasse in talks over a new arena and said they would "aggressively explore" a possible relocation.

Since receiving the letter Monday declaring the impasse, Mr. Ravenstahl and Mr. Onorato also have been reaching out to the team. Mr. Onorato said yesterday it would be a "tragedy" if the Penguins left Pittsburgh given how close the two sides were.

He said his goal heading into today's meeting is to find out what led negotiations to break down, to resolve it and "to close the deal."

"I think this is the meeting to get it done," he said.

Even as state and local leaders prepare for a crucial face-off, Mr. Burkle and other team officials began exploring other options, meeting for about an hour yesterday with Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman in his office.

"They had a very pleasant conversation," said Elena Owens, special assistant to the mayor.

Mr. Goodman, who has been actively seeking a professional sports team, would not give reporters any details of his talks.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Mr. Goodman was asked whether he thought Las Vegas was being used as a bargaining chip in the Pittsburgh negotiations. He replied, "I learned that lesson a long time ago. I will never allow the city to be used as leverage."

Team officials also talked yesterday with Tim Lewieke, president of Anschutz Entertainment Group, which will manage the $276 million Sprint Center in Kansas City, to be ready by next season. Officials there have offered a deal that includes no rent or construction costs and a split of the building revenues.

The Penguins also were looking to talk to officials in Houston about a possible relocation, but in a new development last night, Houston dropped its pursuit of the team for now, saying it could not compete with a new offer from Kansas City.

Michael Moore, chief of staff to Houston Mayor Bill White, said Kansas City had "sweetened substantially" an earlier offer to the Penguins that included free rent and half the building revenues at the new Sprint Center.

"We want an NHL team, but we're not going to give everything away," he said. "We're not going to get into this bidding war back and forth."

He said one factor is that Houston already has the NBA Rockets playing at the Toyota Center, while Kansas City is trying to fill an empty arena.

Today, all eyes will be on Philadelphia, where state and local leaders hope to salvage a deal they thought was close to being completed, only to learn otherwise from the team.

The Penguins have agreed to put up $4 million a year toward a new arena -- the same amount Mr. Rendell asked the team to chip in a year ago when he unveiled his Plan B funding formula. That includes $3.6 million a year in rent and $400,000 annually toward capital improvements.

Mr. Lemieux and Mr. Burkle said in their letter they can contribute no more. They also are putting up $500,000 a year for a parking garage.

Under Plan B, another $7.5 million a year would come from casino licensee Don Barden. The state also has pledged $7.5 million a year, up $500,000 since negotiations began, from a gambling-backed economic development fund.

One of the key economic issues still to be decided is how to account for an extra $20 million added as a contingency to a proposed arena bond issue, bringing the total borrowing to $290 million.

There's also a question of whether the money on the table will be enough. The Penguins believe the gambling and team contributions will cover the $290 million; the state believes there's still a gap.

For the team, however, the talks may be as much about tone as substance. The Penguins were upset that public officials pulled back on an initial offer that set their contribution at $2.8 million as well as a table-pounding outburst by Mr. Rendell Jan. 18.

Sources close to the team indicated the last straw came Friday when state officials refused to share interest rate information with them in the dispute over whether more money was needed in the financing plan.

At the same time, Penguins have been welcomed with open arms in Kansas City, where corporate leaders have pledged support in ticket sales and sponsorships.

Despite the ruffled feathers, Mr. Rendell said he is still hopeful an agreement can be reached. He said he told Mr. Bettman the same thing after getting the letter from the Penguins declaring an impasse.

"I said, 'Commissioner, notwithstanding this letter, I think we're making great progress and I actually think we are very close,' " he said.

Mr. Rendell said he sees no "financial advantage" for the Penguins in a move to Las Vegas, because, like Pittsburgh, it would have to build a new hockey arena from scratch. That differs from Kansas City, which is completing a new arena and wants a hockey team to fill it.

Mr. Rendell said that since the two sides started meeting two months ago, the Penguins have asked for about 14 changes from the original Plan B proposal. He said his "guess" is that public officials have "made 12 or 13 of the 14."

The Penguins also have raised concerns about the impact the losers' appeals of the Pittsburgh slots license award will have on funding, although Mr. Onorato and Mr. Ravenstahl did not see that as a major impediment.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262. Tom Barnes can be reached at tbarnes@post-gazette.com or 1-717-787-4254. )

[BMikeSci]

I'm confused about the casino delay. Why is it that the "losers" were smart enough to immediately appeal the decision, but Don Barden acts as though the appeal process never occurred to him? Didn't the gambling commission ask how the different applicants would handle delays caused by the appeals process? Is it just me, or does this all seem a bit contrived? Shouldn't Mr. Barden step up and try to stick to his agreed upon schedule? After all, Pittsburgh is counting on that revenue. If he can't do that, shouldn't the commission choose a different casino? I would think that some insurance company would underwrite the risk of Mr. Barden losing in the appeals process. Frankly, this delay seems expected - not unexpected. Maybe Mr. Barden doesn't have the money after all.

[BMikeSci]

Another thought: Mightn't Mr. Barden be just a little bit pissed off about the Penguins' backing the I. of C.? Mightn't this newest delay be a way of getting at the Penguins? Hmmm?

[BMikeSci]

Downtown Wilson Center closer to reality

By Bonnie Pfister
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, March 8, 2007

The Urban Redevelopment Authority today is expected to sign off on two long-awaited projects: the August Wilson Center for African American Culture and a new Carnegie Library in the Hill District.
The URA board of directors will review final drawings, evidence of financing and a deed of sale for $1 for the city-owned land needed for each of the projects.

Construction on the Wilson center -- on nearly an acre along Liberty Avenue near Tenth Street -- is to begin in April, said Pam Quatchak, marketing director for the center, which is named for the late playwright and Hill District native who earned two Pulitzer Prizes for plays set in Pittsburgh.

The center's 15 staffers have been squeezed into rented office space at the Regional Enterprise Tower, she said. As needed, the center also rents gallery space on Ninth Street and performance spaces at the Byham and Kelly-Strayhorn theaters.

The 65,000-square-foot facility will include a 500-seat theater, exhibition galleries, a music cafe, education center and gift shop. Designed by San Francisco architect Allison G. Williams, it will cost $35.9 million, and is expected to open by fall 2008.
"It will be nice to have everything in our own facility, and not have to rent other people's theaters," Quatchak said.

The URA board also is expected to approve the sale of three parcels in the Hill District for the first new public library to be built in Pittsburgh in more than a quarter of a century.

Designed by Downtown architect Rob Pfaffmann, the $3.15 million facility is slated for three parcels at the confluence of Centre and Wylie avenues and Kirkpatrick Street, said library spokeswoman Suzanne Thinnes.

The neighborhood's original library, opened in 1899, was one of the first in Pittsburgh. Its operations were relocated in 1982 to its a space on the lower level of a shopping mall at Dinwiddie Street and Centre Avenue.

"It's a little bit hidden," Thinnes said. "We're looking forward to bringing it out into the community more."

The library would include cafe-style seating, a teen lounge, a children's area and a conference room. "What's cool about this space is he's designed it in architectural style in the Hill District of old, resembling the old storefronts," she said. "We're thrilled."

The URA board also is expected to pass through $18.6 million in grants -- mostly from the state -- for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's proposed development of hotel, residential, retail, parking and green space along the Allegheny River between Seventh and Ninth streets.

[designer3d712]

Another thought: Mightn't Mr. Barden be just a little bit pissed off about the Penguins' backing the I. of C.? Mightn't this newest delay be a way of getting at the Penguins? Hmmm?

What are you talking about? The delay is because of the other 2 losers appealing. He is keeping his word on the 14 month construction. He can't do nothing until these appeals are resolved, which results in further delays.

[BANKofMANHATTAN]

PennDOT Cutbacks Mean Fewer Plows on the Road
Monday, March 5, 5:18 p.m.
By Jon Meyer

Did a statewide campaign to save taxpayer's money lead to the mess on the interstates during the Valentine's Day storm and put people's lives at risk? When the storm stranded thousands of drivers on the interstates there were fewer snowplows out on the road.

The reported cutbacks come after the state put a program into effect that was supposed to save taxpayers millions.

The numbers obtained by Newswatch 16 are already catching the attention of Harrisburg.

The state launched a program in 2004 to make PennDOT more streamlined. It's called MECE, or Maintenance Efficiency and Cost Effectiveness.

State Senator Roger Madigan of Bradford County heads the senate transportation committee. He said, "We're told the MECE program was to make PennDOT more efficient. Certainly it didn't."

Thousands of people were stranded on the interstates after the Valentine's Day storm, the first big snowfall since PennDOT began it's plow truck cut-back in 2003.

At a hearing two weeks ago, the head of PennDOT told Senator Lisa Baker of Luzerne County he would get her information about any plow truck reductions.

"We have not yet received a formal response about that. Certainly we need to know if we were deploying appropriate resources to handle that kind of storm. We need to look at if the department has made decisions to cutback in some areas," Senator Baker said.

A source inside PennDOT showed Newswatch 16 truck numbers in some of the areas where interstates closed:

In Lackawanna County PennDOT has 14 fewer plow trucks than four years ago, down 24 percent.
In Luzerne County, down 33 trucks, or 34 percent.
In Schuylkill County, 29 fewer trucks, or 43 percent.
Berks County, where Interstate 78 was closed , is down 27 plows, or 37 percent.
Statewide our source said there are 571 fewer PennDOT and rental trucks, down 25 percent.
Senator Baker reacted to the numbers. "We're anxious to hear from the administration and look forward to correct whatever deficiencies there were," she said.

A PennDOT spokesperson said that agency isn't answering any more of our questions regarding the storm until a governor's office investigation is complete. Senator Baker said she's awaiting more answers from PennDOT too. So she and Senator Madigan from Bradford County are sending a letter to the governor, asking for specific answers.

There are 25 questions, among them, a request for information on plow truck reductions and MECE as a whole.

"The public is demanding that we get the answers and we're determined to working to address that," Baker added.

The senators from our area know there were likely a combination of problems that led to all the troubles on the road last month. We now await the governor's report.

While PennDOT isn't commenting now, one thing it has bragged about in the past is that the MECE efficiency program would save Pennsylvania taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.

Thanks PennDOT.

[BMikeSci]

What are you talking about? The delay is because of the other 2 losers appealing. He is keeping his word on the 14 month construction. He can't do nothing until these appeals are resolved, which results in further delays.

Is it true that Mr. Barden can't do anything? Is there a restraining order that prohibits construction? I don't think that there is. Of course if he loses the appeal, any construction would be a loss for him. It seems to me that articles in the press are suggesting that the negotiated casino schedule will be impossible now that the appeals have started, and that based on this delay the Penguins have new doubts about the proposed arena's budget's viability.

[hyperion1110]

It has always seemed unlikely to me that Barden could deliver on what he has promised. The man simply does not have the financial resources or backing for billion plus dollar series of developments.

I sincerely pray the slots license decision is overturned. I don't like the idea of gambling in Pittsburgh, but it's here anyway...we should do all we can to make the best casino possible. The Harrah's and Isle of Capri proposals showed real vision and, at the very least, had the money to back it up. Barden is the antithesis of vision and financial strength.

Majestic Star is a bad bet for Pittsburgh.

[Evergrey]

Is it true that Mr. Barden can't do anything? Is there a restraining order that prohibits construction? I don't think that there is. Of course if he loses the appeal, any construction would be a loss for him. It seems to me that articles in the press are suggesting that the negotiated casino schedule will be impossible now that the appeals have started, and that based on this delay the Penguins have new doubts about the proposed arena's budget's viability.

Correct. While Barden can begin, there's no sense in sinking money into something that could be overturned.

[BMikeSci]

Correct. While Barden can begin, there's no sense in sinking money into something that could be overturned.

I understand your point, there may be no sense in starting, but didn't he committ to a time schedule. Doesn't he have the responsibility to start? I mean, wasn't this eventuality discussed with him by the commission? He set the schedule - not the commission. It's outrageous to say that, "well I was going to start, but now that I look at the difficulties, I think I'll wait." What other promises is he going to break as he runs into difficulties? If I of C or Harrahs had gotten the license commitment, would they have started?

Barden got the thumbs-up from the GC because he presented the "best plan." That plan included location, number of slots, income predictions, and a schedule. He said that he could provide the best solution with the most revenue for PGH and the state, with the best location, with the best schedule, and with support for the city to keep the Penguins. Will his support for the new areana start on time? Or will he make the city wait?

Can he do this? What provisions were made in the GC agreement for scheduling?

It may be that he can keep the city waiting for its revenue, but then again, maybe he can't. I'm not a lawyer, but I would love to hear a legal opinion on this.

Cheers,

M

[themaguffin]

How can you say that he has a responsibility to start given the appeals? The statehas a responsibility to process the appeals ASAP given the the time sensitive matter.

Barden is not the hold up. Complain about those childish fuckers at IOC and Harrah's.

[BMikeSci]

How can you say that he has a responsibility to start given the appeals? The statehas a responsibility to process the appeals ASAP given the the time sensitive matter.

Barden is not the hold up. Complain about those childish fuckers at IOC and Harrah's.

As I said, I would like to hear a legal opinion. I don't know if Barden has a responsibility or not. I can imagine a scenario in which he would have, but I can also imagine one in which he would not. Is the agreement with the GC available to the public?

My original question remains, why wasn't the appeals process taken into consideration in the schedule? Is this a surprise? Didn't the Gaming Commission know that these appeals would appear pro forma? Was it discussed? Did either I of C or Hrrhs make any statements about how they would schedule based on the appeals process?

I don't know the answers to these questions. I've only had access to news articles, and these points have not been addressed in the press as far as I can recall. If you know otherwise, I would love to learn the details.

Cheers,

M

[BMikeSci]

Bus line appeals to shoestring travelers with new routes
DANIEL LOVERING
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH - For Internet-savvy travelers on a budget, Megabus.com claims to offer a service that makes mainstream bus travel seem pricey: rides from Pittsburgh to Chicago for as little as $1.

The Chicago-based company, which began operating in a number of midwestern cities last year, is hoping the promise of such bargains will entice ever more drivers to leave their cars behind in favor of its colorful coaches.

The bus line announced Thursday it will expand its service to Pittsburgh; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Columbus, Ohio; Kansas City, Mo., and Louisville, Ky. It already offers service between Chicago and Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, St. Louis and Toledo.

"We're really trying to get people out of their car," Dale Moser, president and chief operating officer of Coach USA, the domestic subsidiary of Scotland-based Stagecoach Group PLC, which runs Megabus. "We think that's the real big advantage."

To keep fares low, Megabus uses online ticketing and sidewalk stops instead of ticket counters and bus terminals. Passengers do not buy tickets, but instead give bus drivers reservation numbers they receive when booking online.

The low-cost model was imported from the United Kingdom, where Stagecoach introduced a similar service more than three-and-a-half years ago.

"I don't have a terminal, so I don't have bricks-and-mortar," he said. "I don't have the staff that maintains it. Everything's back room - it's all computer sales. I have nobody handling cash. I have nobody handling any kind of transactions at the bus. The bus driver is focused on taking care of the customers and driving safely."

"The demand for this type of service has been outstanding," Moser added before a news conference on a street corner in downtown Pittsburgh.

The lowest fares generally hinge on planning. A limited number of seats are priced at $1, and the fares increase incrementally based on the time between the booking and departure dates, a pricing scheme used by discount airlines.

"But I will tell you that the highest-price seat is still cheaper than all the alternatives to get from Pittsburgh to Chicago," Moser said. The most expensive ticket for such a trip, booked 24 hours in advance, would be $43.50, he said.

Its top-end fares, he said, are lower than those of Dallas-based Greyhound Lines Inc., the largest intercity bus service in North America.

Bert Powell, an analyst who follows Greyhound for BMO Capital Markets-Canada, said bus activity seems to have increased since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and that regional competition among bus companies has intensified.

"In select routes, you're going to get guys who cherry-pick," he said. "You're going to have guys with three buses nipping at (Greyhound's) heels."

Megabus' vehicles have been more than half-full on average since its launch in April 2006. It will have a fleet of 18 buses under the expansion plan, but will be able to draw on a pool of 2,500 vehicles as needed, according to Moser.

He said the company believes the time is right for a low-cost bus service as people are looking for alternatives to driving, partly because of high gas prices. They also may want to avoid flying because of bothersome airport security procedures.

So far, the company has carried 275,000 passengers and generated more than $4.2 million in revenue.

ON THE NET

Megabus.com: http://www.megabus.com

[BMikeSci]

Here's a section of an article at:

http://www.post-gazette.com/localnews/casino/journal.asp

--

But the gaming board said the foot-dragging is mostly due to the 30-day period, during which Don Barden's competitors -- Isle of Capri and the Forest City and Harrah's Station Square partnership -- have a right to appeal the gaming board's decision. So Mr. Barden should have seen that delay coming.

"I don't think the reasons can be laid entirely at the doorstep of the gaming control board," said Doug Harbach, a gaming control board spokesman. "Any delay like this would hinder the benefits of gaming to the taxpayers of the commonwealth. We would hope they would do their best to accelerate their timetable back closer" to the original March opening, he said in the story.

Anyone who didn't see this coming didn't read the P-G's Dec. 25 story about the very same.

[BMikeSci]

Anybody know what's going on in Uptown? Zillow.com shows loads of properties transfering hands there.

[themaguffin]

As I said, I would like to hear a legal opinion. I don't know if Barden has a responsibility or not.

Why would he have any responsibility yet. Everything is pending

Do you move into a house when it is under contract?

Anybody know what's going on in Uptown? Zillow.com shows loads of properties transfering hands there.

Other than the new arena properties?

[Evergrey]

Anybody know what's going on in Uptown? Zillow.com shows loads of properties transfering hands there.

it might have something to do with the Keystone Innovation Zone that was just created in that area...

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07068/768164-61.stm

Progress in arena talks
Penguins, politicians call four-hour session 'very constructive,' will meet again Wednesday
Friday, March 09, 2007

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



PHILADELPHIA -- The Penguins aren't packing for Kansas City just yet.

After more than four hours of talks last night, the team and state and local leaders reported "significant progress" in negotiations on a new arena, providing hope for fans just when it seemed as if the franchise might skate off to another city.

In a joint statement, the two sides called last night's session, the first face-to-face gathering since Jan. 18, "very constructive" and said they would meet again Wednesday, at a location to be determined.

Chuck Ardo, a spokesman for Gov. Ed Rendell who read the statement, said there would be no other comment. None of the principals were available for interviews.

The statement was issued more than four hours after Penguins co-owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle and Gov. Ed Rendell, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato convened about 7 p.m. in an undisclosed hotel in Philadelphia hoping to hammer out a deal that has escaped completion for more than two months.

Aiding the effort was National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman, who traveled from New York to be part of the session, the first face-to-face meeting that involved both Mr. Lemieux and Mr. Burkle since Jan. 4. Reporters awaited the outcome at City Hall.

"We had a very constructive meeting where significant progress was made. The parties have agreed to meet again next Wednesday," Mr. Ardo said.

The positive news came four days after the two owners declared an impasse in the talks and vowed to aggressively explore a move. Since then, Kansas City, which opens the $276 million Sprint Center this year, has sweetened an offer for the team that already includes free rent and a split of the building revenues.

The offer was so good that Houston, one of the cities interested in the Penguins, dropped out of the bidding.

Despite the Penguins' vow to pursue other cities, Mr. Ardo said before yesterday's meeting the governor was "guardedly optimistic" that a deal still could be reached. He, Mr. Onorato and Mr. Ravenstahl have said they thought the parties were close to an agreement.

At the same time, Mr. Rendell and Mr. Ravenstahl would not rule out an appeal to the NHL to block a move by the Penguins, given the team's passionate fan base in Pittsburgh, which has led to sellout after sellout, and the arena deal on the table.

Mr. Ardo described the start of last night's meeting as "serious and business like."

The Penguins have offered to put up $4 million a year toward the arena - the same amount Mr. Rendell requested from them a year ago. The team contribution included $3.6 million a year in rent and $400,000 annually for capital improvements.

It also agreed to pay $500,000 a year for a parking garage as part of the arena complex.

Despite that, the parties have been unable to reach a deal. The rest of the arena funding would come from $7.5 million a year from Pittsburgh casino winner Don Barden and $7.5 million from a gambling-financed state economic development fund, up $500,000 from an earlier offer.

In their letter declaring the impasse, Mr. Lemieux and Mr. Burkle said they were concerned about the appeals of the casino award to Mr. Barden, saying the litigation creates more uncertainty about arena financing.

The Penguins had partnered with Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. in its unsuccessful bid for the license. Isle of Capri, which pledged $290 million for an arena as part of its proposal, is one of those appealing the award.

Sources close to the team also have complained about the treatment the Penguins have received from public officials, which included a table-pounding outburst by Mr. Rendell Jan. 18. Last week, the state refused to share interest rate information with the team, creating even more friction.

The letter declaring an impasse came even though Mr. Rendell, Mr. Onorato, and Mr. Ravenstahl thought the parties were close to a deal.

Among the remaining hang-ups were how to pay for an extra $20 million added as a contingency to a proposed arena bond issue. The extra $20 million increased the bond issue from $270 million to $290 million.

The parties also were in dispute over who would pay if the guaranteed maximum price for the arena came in about the available funding. The Penguins have agreed to pay for cost overruns, but only above the guaranteed maximum price.

Mr. Rendell said the parties had all but settled differences over development rights to the site of Mellon Arena, which would be demolished, and parking revenues.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.

[BMikeSci]

Why would he have any responsibility yet. Everything is pending

Do you move into a house when it is under contract?

That depends on the contract. It's not unheard of to move in to a property under a lease agreement until a property closes. Sometimes a seller wants to delay a closing for tax purposes. As I said, I don't know the details of the agreement between PA and PITG Gaming.


Other than the new arena properties?

Yes, further east.

[Evergrey]

more news from USEless Airways... they continue to have a stranglehold on our market...

and oh yeah... some small airline is adding nonstop service to Myrtle Beach to fill the void left by Hooters Air... yippee

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07068/768035-37.stm

JetBlue's pullback stokes fears over fares
Friday, March 09, 2007

By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

When JetBlue Airways pulled its daily evening flight to Boston this week, business traveler Denise DiPasquale began fretting about the reaction from US Airways. The region's dominant air carrier historically has slashed fares when competitors arrive, only to raise them once they back out again.

Sure enough, when Ms. DiPasquale tried to book a new Boston trip around the same time of day, the price on US Airways was suddenly more than $400 one way, more than doubling what she had been paying on JetBlue. Flights at other, less convenient times might have been cheaper but required 14-day advance purchases -- part of a new widespread sale Tempe, Ariz.-based US Airways has launched to keep up the pressure on the much-smaller JetBlue and other rivals .

"I fear this sale is an attempt to run JetBlue out of the market," Ms. DiPasquale said. "If they succeed, I worry we will return to some of the highest airfares in the country."

JetBlue's Boston pullback is reflective of the hold that US Airways continues to have on local flying, being accountable still for about half of all traffic at Pittsburgh International. What JetBlue faces is the same challenge that tripped up other low-cost entrants in the 1990s -- lukewarm support from the local business community and entrenched buying patterns on the part of corporate travel planners and frequent fliers.

Pittsburgh International is littered with the past failures of low-fare upstarts that came and went due to US Airways' market power and its ability to match prices on certain routes. A decade or so ago, ValuJet, Nation's Air and JetTrain all started and then ended service to Pittsburgh International. Independence Air followed in the early part of this decade only to fold early in 2006 amid a larger industry slump.

ValuJet later changed its name to AirTran Airways and, amid high expectations, launched service to New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Atlanta from Pittsburgh. But due to a lack of local support, it dropped the flights to New York, Philadelphia and Chicago.

Airport officials are concerned the same could happen with JetBlue, which launched service to Boston's Logan International Airport and New York's JFK Airport last summer.

If "the business community is not responding to the lower fares and service being provided, [JetBlue] very well could pull their service out," said Allegheny County Airport Authority Director Kent George, who runs Pittsburgh International. "That is a reality we face all the time."

Changing old flying habits is difficult, especially for frequent fliers who may still have still an allegiance to US Airways, he added. "JetBlue is having a difficult time getting the people who are flying to Boston to change the way they buy their tickets, the carrier they use. It is akin to what we faced years ago when AirTran came in and was knocked out of New York, Philly and Chicago by competition."

JetBlue spokesman Bryan Baldwin said the Forest Hills, N.Y., airline knew it would "take awhile for the market to achieve its full maturity" and that "we still have room to grow and room for improvements.''

But "we definitely need the support of the community to create that demand,'' he added. Traffic is not "where we would like to be."

The airline pledges to restore the Boston flight May 1, giving it two a day again. It has no plans to cut back on the four daily flights to New York's JFK , Mr. Baldwin said.

US Airways claims it is not targeting JetBlue.

Spokesman Phil Gee acknowledged that the company did put restrictions on its lowest fares to Boston this past week but that the restrictions have been "removed." He claims it was a "temporary action" related solely to the company's merging of old reservation systems this past weekend and unrelated to JetBlue's pullback.

"If anything, we have recently lowered fares in most Pittsburgh markets to stimulate local demand," Mr. Gee said in an e-mail. "In most of those markets, JetBlue is not our competitor."

There is recent proof that a low-fare carrier can do well in Pittsburgh. Two years after launching service here, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines already is the airport's second-largest carrier, after US Airways. This Sunday, it will initiate new service to Baltimore/Washington International Airport, giving it 23 daily flights, compared with about 150 from US Airways. Utilizing three gates, it also serves Orlando, Fla., Philadelphia, Chicago, Las Vegas, Baltimore, Phoenix and Tampa, Fla.

It is true that Pittsburgh once had the among the highest air fares in the country, back when US Airways considered Pittsburgh a monopoly hub and offered more than 500 daily flights from here. But one result of US Airways' recent pullback has been the new competition -- and a drop in prices. Pittsburgh's average fare of $139 is now tied for 13th lowest among major U.S. airport markets, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

And while connecting traffic is down due to US Airways' hub dismantling, local traffic is up, meaning more Pittsburgh-area people are driving to the airport and taking flights all around the country. The number of so-called "origin and destination" travelers has increased more than 30 percent in the last five years, from 3.2 million to 4.2 million people. "That's a significant increase," Mr. George said.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Dan Fitzpatrick can be reached at dfitzpatrick@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1752.)

[Evergrey]

Interesting article on convention center performance... here and nationally... somebody in a "convention center interest group" must be selling every city in the country snake oil...


http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_496896.html

No meeting of minds at Convention Center

By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, March 9, 2007


More than three years after it opened, critics still debate whether the David L. Lawrence Convention Center is a white elephant.
Critics say inflated costs and the failure to produce more shows drawing more patrons make the $373 million complex overlooking the Allegheny River a bad investment. A $150 million state subsidy and bonds financed by Allegheny County's hotel/motel room tax paid for the center..

Defenders say the architecturally striking building -- built to environmentally friendly standards -- is essential for the region to compete in the $1.3 trillion tourism industry.

The debate continues as workers prepare to reopen the center for the Duquesne Light Pittsburgh Home & Garden Show, the first since the stunning collapse Feb. 5 of a structural beam and concrete slab. Crews refitted all but one of 26 steel beams in the building's expansion joint to prevent a similar collapse. The show opens today for a 10-day run.





"When people flew in the 1920s, they flew on biplanes, but that doesn't work today," said Joseph McGrath, president of VisitPittsburgh, the public agency that markets the center. "If you tell me to sell a seat on biplane while everyone else is flying on a jet, I can't do that."

Regional leaders decided in the mid-1990s to replace the former, warehouse-like center that opened in 1981. They nearly tripled the exhibit space to 313,400 square feet and added amenities such as a ballroom.

Preliminary figures show the center had 36 major conventions last year with combined attendance topping 182,000, a record. In its best year, 1997, the previous facility booked 38 major conventions.

But to justify the center's cost, annual attendance should be 300,000, argued Jake Haulk, president of the Allegheny Institute on Public Policy, a Castle Shannon-based think tank. Average yearly attendance in the 1990s was 116,000, he said.

Haulk based his assessment on the size difference between the old and new convention centers: 131,000 square feet of show space compared to 313,400 square feet now.

"They spent well over $300 million on this thing," Haulk said. "They need to generate more business, quantum levels of more business than the old convention center. That's the bottom line."

Meeting rosy projections often proves difficult for convention centers that expand, said Heywood Sanders, a professor of public administration at the University of Texas at San Antonio, who has written about what he calls a convention center "arms race."

A report Sanders authored two years ago for the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, found 53 cities built or expanded convention centers since 2000, and 44 had plans to expand. Sanders questions the wisdom of spending public money on such projects.

"What are the things you might have done with those public dollars instead of investing in a business that is so competitive ... and yields such modest rewards?"

Pittsburgh's center ranks 56th in size among the nation's top 100 convention facilities, according to Tradeshow Week, an industry trade publication.

In other cities, critics are questioning the performance of expanded convention centers.

Baltimore's convention business slumped despite a $151 million expansion in 1997 that tripled exhibit space to 300,000 square feet.

Last month, the Baltimore Area Convention & Visitors Association reported booking only a third of the groups it did in 2005. The association noted a 70 percent drop in hotel room reservations since 2005.

"If we only had a 115,000- or 150,000-square-foot exhibit space, we'd really be in trouble," said Tom Noonan, president of the association. "If you have that sized facility, you are probably only reaching half of the convention market in this country."

Noonan believes a 750-room Hilton hotel under construction will help Baltimore attract conventions. Others aren't so sure.

New convention centers with hotels in St. Louis, Kansas City and Sacramento, Calif., have not met expectations, according to a 2005 study by the Abell Foundation of Baltimore. The foundation did the study for Baltimore officials.

Noonan said Baltimore competes with Pittsburgh for some convention business. But Baltimore competes more often with Washington and Philadelphia -- cities with much larger centers -- for events to fill city hotels.

The new $850 million Washington Convention Center, the largest public investment in the District of Columbia's history, is not living up to its billing, according to the Washington Post. The 725,000-square-foot center ranks 15th in size nationally, says Tradeshow Week. Convention attendance is dropping; hotel convention bookings missed projections by 13 percent in 2006 and are expected to fall short of projections by 24 percent this year and 29 percent next year, the Post reported.

Pittsburgh needs a convention center hotel to fulfill its promise, McGrath maintains. A proposal to create a 1,000-room facility by adding 500 rooms to the Omni Convention Center Hotel on Liberty Avenue, Downtown, remains stalled.

"We have not finished the job for the convention center," McGrath said. "You can't put a V-8 engine in a car and say it's going to go faster if you don't put in the transmission, the steering wheel and the tires."

Still, he said, VisitPittsburgh has beaten projections of SMG, the Philadelphia-based company that manages the center, for the number of conventions and attendance each year since the building opened -- 26 conventions and trade shows in 2004, versus 25 projected; 33 events in 2005, versus 28 anticipated; and 36 events in 2006 instead of 31 projected.


Those numbers include only major events, the industry-standard benchmark. An operations report compiled last year by the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority, which owns the center, shows the overall number of events dropped from 272 in 2004 to 235 in 2005. The report stated annual attendance declined from 507,722 in 2004 to 416,522 in 2005.

McGrath points out the center has the necessary space to attract major events -- such as the National Rifle Association Convention in 2004. It helped win back the region's biggest meeting, the National Association of Iron & Steel Engineers biennial convention, which moved to Cleveland in 1997 for lack of space. That organization, now the Association for Iron & Steel Technology, returned in 2003.

The occupancy rate for the center's primary exhibit space was 49 percent in 2005 and 47.5 percent in 2006, said Mark Leahy, general manager of the center for SMG.

A PricewaterhouseCoopers 2005 Convention Center Report shows the U.S. average occupancy for like-sized exhibit halls was 45.4 percent in 2005.


Industry watchers consider hotel "room night" figures to be the best indication of a convention center's performance. One person staying three nights, or three people staying in separate rooms for one night, count as three room nights.

The number of room nights for conventions booked at area hotels increased from 108,000 in 2004 to 110,488 in 2005, according to the SEA. The agency said 2006 figures are not yet available.

The PricewaterhouseCoopers report indicates similarly sized U.S. convention centers should generate 196,000 hotel room nights.

McGrath said the city lost a potential 90,000 room nights with groups that wouldn't consider Pittsburgh because it lacks a 1,000-room convention center hotel.

Even with a bigger convention center, Pittsburgh hasn't landed any of the nation's 200 largest trade shows, said Michael Hart, editor of the Tradeshow Week. Most of those events go to major cities -- Chicago, New York, Las Vegas and Miami.

Still, convention center investments can be valuable for a community, he said.

"When you build a convention center, it will be a place to have community events like consumer shows," Hart said, "and it may attract some meetings or trade shows that draw visitors from out of town and will generate room nights for hotels.''



Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.



Bookings rise
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/images/video/2007_pdfs/GX-Center-ch-03-09.pdf

Convention Center quick facts
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/images/video/2007_pdfs/GX-ConvCtr1-eds-03-09.pdf

America's Largest Convention Centers
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/images/video/2007_pdfs/GX-ConvCtr2-eds-03-09.pdf

[BMikeSci]

Let's hope that we can get build PGH's businesses through more synergy between the hotels, casino, convention center,and cultural and sport venues.

[Evergrey]

a sobering and thorough piece on Homewood... the city's most notorious and crime-ridden neighborhood... the struggles there are heartbreaking

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_497138.html

Homewood struggles to beat back crime

By Jill King Greenwood
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, March 11, 2007


Katisha Correll, 13, doesn't venture far from her Rosedale Street home, refuses to walk in alleys and tries to stay with a group of friends when she's outside.
Kiva Fisher-Green, 35, is so concerned about crime in Homewood that she allows her four adopted children to play only outside their Tacoma Street home.

Dorothy Tomlin, 72, whose Kedron Street home was burglarized last year, abides by a simple rule: "When it gets dark, I go inside. And I stay there."

Though the three live blocks apart, they share a common fear: Homewood is a dangerous place. And they are among people trying to change that reality -- even as they acknowledge the difficulty of doing so.





"I'd love to be able to tell people that I have a business and live in Homewood, and not see that look they get on their face, which has me defending this neighborhood," said Todd Elston, who grew up on Tacoma Street and runs a personal care home there.

"It's time we turned things around and resurrected Homewood."

From 2001 to 2006, there were significantly more homicides, aggravated assaults, weapons and narcotics offenses, and prostitution arrests in Homewood than any other Pittsburgh neighborhood -- making it one of the most dangerous places to live in Western Pennsylvania.

Most of the crimes occurred on the intersecting roads of Kelly Street and North Lang Avenue; Bennett and Sterrett streets; Frankstown Avenue and Collier Street; and Hamilton and North Homewood avenues.

In the past five years, police responded to 337 gun assaults, 22 homicides and 1,329 drug offenses, and made 93 prostitution arrests. During the same period, the city's second-most dangerous neighborhood -- the Hill District -- recorded 119 gun assaults, 17 homicides, 600 drug arrests and 40 for prostitution.

This year, in February alone, police responded to an armed robbery and carjacking of a 75-year-old man on Frankstown Avenue; the death of a drug dealer who was dragged by a fleeing car and slammed into a utility pole on Hamilton Avenue; an armed bank robbery on Frankstown Avenue; and the shooting death of a man inside a Bennett Street garage.

A turn for the worse

Homewood today stands in sharp contrast to the 19th century neighborhood where businesses flourished amid mansions. When violence erupted in the 1960s, destroying many businesses and driving people from the city to suburbs, the neighborhood's gates were opened to street gangs -- who brought still more violence, and drugs.

Today, at least five offshoots of the Crips gang operate in Homewood, police said. The sound of gunfire, even during daylight hours, is common.

"This is one of the most crime-ridden, violent areas in the city," said Pittsburgh police Detective Anthony Moreno, who patrols Homewood several times a week as a member of the Impact unit. "Everything -- guns, drugs, the shootings, the prostitution -- we see it all, every day."

When police and drug task forces saturate the area, word of their presence spreads quickly. As they drive in unmarked patrol cars, young men on the streets pull out cell phones and start dialing.

"They're sending out the warning that we're here," Detective Jason Lando said on patrol one day last month.

Minutes later, as detectives arrested a man carrying a stolen gun, the suspect, 24, shouted to a neighbor.

"Yo, tell cuz it's scorching out here today," he said, referring to the "heat" from law enforcement.

Homewood's streets are lined with rows of abandoned buildings taken over by vagrants, junkies and prostitutes. Young men who congregate on street corners are familiar to police because they've arrested them before.

People stream in and out of one rowhouse, leaving behind trash, feces and used condoms. Garbage, mattresses, crack pipes and syringes litter vacant lots. Memorials to homicide victims dot telephone poles. Most businesses that remain are bars, barber shops, small corner stores and fast-food restaurants.

"Look around -- can you imagine a child growing up here and wanting to play?" said Fisher-Green, who organized the Tacoma Street Block Association, as part of Operation Better Block, so that neighbors could watch out for one another.

"No child should have to live among this. People are afraid over here," she said.

Working for change

Community groups seeking to rid Homewood of crime have faced retaliation, including having shots fired at their homes and cars.

Police Chief Nate Harper said he's concerned that fear drives law-abiding people indoors and allows criminals to control the streets. He has met with community and faith-based groups to devise plans to get people involved in reclaiming their neighborhood.

The police bureau is working with the Mayor's Office to clean up trash and raze abandoned buildings.

Ron Graziano, chief of the city's Bureau of Building Inspection, said inspectors have condemned 175 buildings in Homewood, and the city has contracts to raze 18 this year. An average of 300 buildings citywide are razed each year, Graziano said, and the Homewood/Brushton neighborhoods are top target areas.

In 2006, the inspection bureau spent $570,000 dollars, or 27 percent of its budget, demolishing homes in Homewood and Brushton, Graziano said.

"I could spend my entire demolition budget over there, but there are other areas that need the attention, too," he said.

Harper said he has dispatched more marked and unmarked patrol cars to the area, but he wouldn't say how many additional patrols are being conducted or how frequent they are.

He said some cadets who graduate in May from the police academy will be directed to Homewood, along with graduates of a class that begins in July. County, state and federal agents are helping to patrol Homewood's streets, Harper said, and the city plans to send SWAT teams into vacant homes to root out drug dealers and weapons caches.

"People should be alarmed at what is going on over there," Harper said. "There are good, hard-working people living there, some for decades, who don't like the fact that they can't go outside and their kids definitely can't play on places like Kelly Street.

"But they're trapped, because they don't have the means to get out. We're trying to make some progress in taking those streets back from the criminals."

Al Blumstein, a Carnegie Mellon University professor who studies crime trends, said it would take a multi-pronged effort to turn the tide of crime and blight in Homewood.

"It's going to take the schools, the parents, the police, the churches, the community groups, the politicians all working together to attack the problem," Blumstein said. "And it won't be easy."

Better days

Homewood's landscape wasn't always stained by crime and poverty, said Samuel W. Black, curator of African American Collections for the Sen. John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center.

In the 1800s, it was home to tycoons such as George Westinghouse and Henry Clay Frick, who kept estates there. Businesses boomed and people couldn't move into Homewood fast enough, Black said. As a trolley system was built, middle-class residents -- mostly of Irish, Italian and German ancestry -- moved to the area.

"It was really more like a suburb back then," Black said.

The construction of the Civic Arena in the mid-1950s displaced the lower Hill District's mostly black population, sending many to Homewood. Whites living there began fleeing to suburbs such as Penn Hills and Monroeville, Black said. The few blacks who could afford to follow them did.

Riots during the racial turmoil of the area destroyed many of Homewood's businesses in the 1960s, Black said, and it wasn't long before gangs and drugs moved in.

"People associate Homewood with crime and violence and drugs, and that's a shame," Black said. "But it's hard not to make that association."

Philip Martin, who ministers with the Salvation Army on Frankstown Avenue, said the community needs to attract businesses, which he acknowledges is daunting because of the crime problem.

"When you have so much unemployment and so many young men who don't have good role models or guidance, what you end up with is drug dealers paying the family's rent," Martin said. "I'm afraid for a lot of people living over here."

Nelson Harrison, who grew up in Homewood, sits on the board of advisers for the Afro American Music Institute on Hamilton Avenue. He sees many youngsters coming to the institute to escape the violence outside. They, too, hope for a brighter future.

"Places like this are an oasis in the desert for kids in Homewood, because there aren't many safe places here for them," Harrison said. "These streets outside look like Beirut or Lebanon or Iraq. It's a war zone. And our kids are caught right in the crosshairs."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
High-profile Homewood crimes
Feb. 26: Two men, one armed with a rifle, rob the A&K Federal Credit Union on Frankstown Avenue of about $2,000. They remain at large.

Feb. 23: Carjackers rob but do not injure a 75-year-old man on Frankstown Avenue at Collier Street. The suspects, chased by police, crash into another vehicle, injuring the driver and the police officer pursuing them when he swerves to avoid the wreck. The assailants run; the driver, 15, is caught.

Feb. 19: Antwon Williams, 45, is killed while selling drugs to three people in a Dodge Neon when the driver tries to leave without paying, police said. Williams leans into the car and the driver speeds off, crashing into a utility pole at Hamilton Avenue and Murtland Street. Police arrest Keith Johnson for homicide.

Feb. 12: Two men are shot, one fatally, inside Derek's Auto garage in the 7900 block of Bennett Street. One man is arrested.

Aug. 18, 2006: Three children are injured when a gunman fires into their Fuchsia Way apartment. No one is arrested.

May 25, 2006: A pickup truck fleeing police on North Lang Avenue careens through a red light and slams into two vehicles, killing two people and injuring six. The driver, Devon Miles, 20, of Homewood, pleaded guilty this month to two counts of third-degree murder.

Feb. 21, 2006: Aaron Henderson, 16, is shot outside Westinghouse High School on Murtland Street, and survives. Police arrest Thomas Beck, 24. A judge last week convicted him of aggravated assault but found a co-defendent, Brandon Murray, 23, not guilty of criminal conspiracy, attempted homicide and aggravated assault.

June 4, 2005: Keith Carter, 21, identified by police as a leader of the hilltop gang, was involved in a shootout with two Pittsburgh police detectives in Homewood, where nearly 60 shots were traded between Carter and police. No one was injured. Last week, Carter was sentenced to 12-25 years in prison for his attack on the detectives.



Jill King Greenwood can be reached at jgreenwood@tribweb.com or 412-321-2160.

[Evergrey]

thought this was an interesting take on the whole arena saga

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07070/768599-194.stm

Smizik: Blame Rendell if deal fails
Sunday, March 11, 2007

By Bob Smizik, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

During the long and heated run-up to the awarding of the Pittsburgh slots license, this column was a frequent defender of Gov. Ed Rendell. The belief here was that Penguins/Isle of Capri supporters were unfairly attacking Rendell, even going so far as to tell lies when they thought their outrageous exaggerations weren't enough.

They were furious Rendell was not supporting the IOC proposal, although he would have been derelict in his duties if he had not remained neutral because he appointed three members of the Gaming Control Board. They were livid when Rendell proposed Plan B, although he was acting in the best interest of the Penguins and their fans by doing so -- as subsequent events have shown.

In short, we believed Rendell conducted himself in a responsible manner.

We wish we could say the same today.

In the past two months, Rendell has behaved more like a dunce than a leader, more like a man interested in obstructing the process of getting a new arena for Pittsburgh instead of furthering it.

Had this been a Philadelphia franchise in peril, rest assured his actions would not have been so cavalier. Should the Penguins leave for Kansas City, and the belief here is that will not happen, Rendell will be the man most responsible.

As the power broker in these negotiations -- the only politician with money to spend -- Rendell has behaved recklessly in allowing the process to go as far as it has. His inability -- or was it his refusal -- to get a deal done served to whet the appetite of Kansas City, which originally, and understandably, believed it had almost no chance to get the Penguins.

A meeting Thursday in Philadelphia, one in which NHL commissioner Gary Bettman joined the talks, was fruitful and it looks like plans are moving ahead, although it's too early for any celebrating.

But it didn't have to get this far.

Kansas City was involved in this process more as a stake in the future than in any real hope of landing the Penguins. But as the negotiating process slowed to a crawl, Kansas City, which is offering a new and rent-free arena, saw reason for hope. When the state refused to release important financial information to the Penguins last week, it prompted the team to write a letter to Rendell, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato and Pittsburgh mayor Luke Ravenstahl saying they considered the talks at an impasse and would pursue relocation.

All of a sudden, Kansas City thought it had a chance and reportedly sweetened its offer. Which means the delay was costly if government has to match the Kansas City offer.

This all started so superbly on Jan 4. in a meeting in Pittsburgh that was attended by the three elected officials, Penguins owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle and team president Ken Sawyer. The Penguins were so pleased with the meeting, in which the state gave an overview of what it would do, that although Lemieux had not planned to comment at its conclusion he did.

" . . . I'm optimistic with the meeting that we had today with the politicians here in town that they're willing to step up and talk about some issues that were a big concern for us going back seven years,'' he said.

The Penguins felt so good about what was happening in Pittsburgh they put on hold plans to visit other cities.

When the sides met two weeks later, with Lemieux not in attendance, it was a different Rendell on the other side of the table. He played the part of a bully, yelling and pounding the table like a schoolboy. It's possible, those tactics work in political circles. They're not going to work with Burkle, a multi-billionaire, who has been involved with considerably bigger deals than this. They're not going to work with Chuck Greenberg, Lemieux's long-time lawyer, who is a master negotiator and not the type to be backed down by a tantrum.

In the intervening weeks, Rendell made threats about going to the NHL to stop a relocation, if all else failed. His oft-stated reason was that considering the Penguins are drawing well, unlike some teams that change location, there's no way the NHL would allow the Penguins to leave. He was correct that the NHL does not want one of its best franchises to leave. He was incorrect in believing the NHL could do anything to stop such a move.

If the powerful NFL cannot stop franchises from moving, it's highly unlikely the NHL could prevent the relocation of a franchise, especially one without a lease.

It was typical of the do-nothing approach Rendell took for too long.

With the positive news coming out of the meeting Thursday, it looks like a deal will be struck, an arena will be built and the Penguins will stay. It that happens, some will consider Rendell a hero. Don't you believe it.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com. )

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07070/768266-147.stm

Getting Around: Stats guru shows why state transit support is difficult
Sunday, March 11, 2007

By Joe Grata, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Port Authority administrators have decided to wait until at least March 23, the date of their board's monthly meeting, to recommend what will probably be unprecedented bus cuts, fare increases and layoffs.

Normally, the actions would have been disclosed at Friday's committee meetings of the nine-member, county-appointed board that holds legal responsibility for the agency.

These are not normal times at the Port Authority, however.

Riders don't need to be reminded of the devastating proposals that officials say are necessary -- with or without more help from Harrisburg -- to address the projected $80 million budget deficit for fiscal 2007-08 that begins July 1:

A 25 percent reduction in bus-trolley service hours resulting in the elimination of 124 of 213 bus routes; a fare increase to either a $2 flat fare or $2.50 base fare using the current zone system; the layoff of at least 400 employees; and idling about 150 buses and minibuses.

It is a foregone conclusion that the Port Authority needs to be more efficient, bring management and union labor costs under control, increase fares for the first time since 2003 to address inflation and stagnant state aid and "right-size" service to meet reasonable needs with limited funds.

Nobody is going to pull a rabbit out of a hat.

Rather, riders will pay the price for chronic problems that have accumulated over 20 years but that have always been solved conveniently through politics, emergency funding, community pressure or some expediency. Until now.

My predictions?

I expect the cut in service hours to be about 15 percent, rather than the previously announced 25 percent.

I expect about half the number of 124 bus routes proposed for elimination to be retained, such as the 28X Airport Express and 13K Cranberry Express, but with modifications including reduced hours of operation.

I expect the $2 flat fare to be imposed because it simplifies the fare-collection system, cuts disputes and fare evasion and requires fewer employees to administer.

I expect at least 300 employees to be laid off.

And I expect the Port Authority to say its projected budget deficit won't be quite as high as the $80 million announced two months ago.

Maybe I'm expecting too much.

Meanwhile, many of the problems that have brought the Port Authority to its knees finally are being acknowledged at the other end of the state.

Philadelphia-based Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, about three times as large, has made its own gloomy forecast of a $129 million budget deficit for the 2007-08 fiscal year.

Unless Harrisburg comes to the rescue again, and soon, General Manager Faye Moore said that SEPTA will have to raise fares by up to 31 percent, to a $2.50 base; cut weekday bus, subway and rail service by 20 percent; and eliminate 300 to 400 of the 9,200-member workforce.

Here's what she said in a statement released by SEPTA's press office:

"The impact of such massive fare hikes and service cuts would undermine the viability of public transportation in the region.

"While such an option would seem unthinkable, we have no other viable alternatives to consider.

"We must remain hopeful that a solution to this budgetary nightmare will be found."

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?



Believe it. The last link is completed in the 132-mile Great Allegheny Passage, the scenic trail between McKeesport and the C&O Canal Towpath, adding another 184.5 miles for a continuous, 316.5-mile route to Georgetown-Washington, D.C.

[Evergrey]

very interesting...

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07070/768560-53.stm

How tax cuts saved Philadelphia
10-year abatements lead to boom in housing
Sunday, March 11, 2007

By Bill Toland, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphia in the mid-1990s was like New York City two decades before it, a city in need of reclamation. People were leaving at a rate of 1,000 a month, and there were worries it might become the "next Detroit," hollowed out by suburban flight and job losses.

Then, 10 years ago, Philadelphia approved tax breaks on offices and hotels that were converted into condos. The builders and subsequent unit owners still had to pay property taxes on the old value of the property, but the improvements would be tax-free for 10 years. In 2000, the abatement was extended to new commercial and home construction, not just conversions.

What followed was a residential construction boom unrivaled by any period in the city's history, except for the antebellum era, when Philadelphia's housing stock grew in order to accommodate rapid post-Civil War population growth. The city now has close to 4,000 separate housing units under abatement -- $15 million penthouse condos, $500,000 luxury condos, entry-level condos and all styles of condominiums in between, not to mention new single-family homes in the outlying areas such as Manayunk.

All the activity has re-energized places like Chinatown, the 10 or so square blocks of groceries, restaurants, apartments and other commercial establishments that have been home to Asian immigrants for a century-plus. And it's led to the refurbishment of buildings like the Ten Ten, a former Chinatown hotel that's been converted into a condominium tower along the neighborhood's Race Street. Among its residents is Delaware County Community College communications professor David Paterno, lured to the city partly by the tax break and the solid brick bones of the Ten Ten.

The 37-year-old estimates that he saves more than $1,200 a year on property taxes, and says it's tough to imagine leaving his new digs and the Center City. Even "if I had to pay the full amount now, I wouldn't move," he says.


Message for Pittsburgh
As Pittsburgh eyes similar tax breaks to woo city residents, its hard to ignore the Philadelphia story. Young professionals and empty-nesters are moving to the state's largest city for the tax breaks, and, it's hoped, they will stay for the museums, nightlife, sidewalk cafes and convenient commutes even when the abatements expire, which will begin to happen next year. Philadelphia leaders say the 10-year experiment with tax abatements has helped fuel $4 billion in construction activity since 1997, causing a residential building boom that saw housing permits in Philadelphia in 2004 outpace those granted in surrounding counties. That hasn't happened here in decades.

Moreover, a study for the city's Building Industry Association estimates that so-called "spillover" tax benefits from the abatement program will total $285 million over the next 25 years as more people move into the city and pay local wage and sales taxes -- more than double the estimated $121 million foregone through 2005 from abatements.

Predictably, the activity hasn't come without social costs and tensions. Take Chinatown. The Ten Ten, the nearby Pearl Condominiums, the hospital-turned-Metro Club Condominiums and other smaller projects reflect a gentrification wave that is luring wealthier residents and pushing up rents and property tax assessments. The concern is that the overall cost of living eventually could exceed the budgets of those who have called Chinatown and neighborhoods like it home for generations.

"A lot of Chinese immigrants who are coming in aren't making the kind of incomes needed to afford these new condos," said Greg Heller, an urban planner with an office a few blocks from Chinatown. He, not to mention the neighborhood's 4,000 residents, worries a day may come when the Asian community that has made Chinatown home for 130 years might be forced elsewhere, leaving in their wake just foreign pictographs on buildings and a bevy of restaurants and souvenir shops for tourists.

City leaders haven't done enough to "make sure you retain the existing backbone of the community," Mr. Heller said. Goosing the construction market, without planning for what may happen next, affects a neighborhood's historical stability, the very thing that made Chinatown a destination for America-bound immigrants in the first place.

Here's where the hard feelings come in: Hypothetically, "I've lived in a house, a neighborhood, real hardscrabble, for all my life ... then some guy bought [a] vacant lot and puts two McMansions on it. These out-of-towners came in and paid $750,000 for those mansions. And those jerks aren't paying any taxes on it," said Brett Mandel, executive director of a citizens' group and former financial policy guru for the city controller's office.

"Nothing will be a salve to that," he said. And yet without the abatements, the neighborhood surely would miss out on investment opportunities that otherwise wouldn't have looked Chinatown's way. "The tax incentives are fantastic for development," said Lance Silver, principal with Silver & Harting real estate, which developed the Ten Ten. The tax break "made it very competitive" to invest in Chinatown's dilapidated residential market.

Both the successes and the unintended consequences are issues Pittsburgh leaders will need to weigh as the city starts considering proposals for 10-year abatements for new and rehabilitated residential buildings. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl wants to waive the first $2,700 in city property taxes for 10 years on new housing units built Downtown and in 20 other neighborhoods. Councilman Bill Peduto would waive up to $150,000 in city taxes on major housing developments -- rather than on individual units -- in Downtown and five surrounding neighborhoods.

Both approaches, Mr. Heller, the urban planner, believes, risk putting politics before policy, coming as they do in the rush of an election year.

"You need to figure out a long-term strategy," he said. If the tax breaks succeed in spurring development in Homewood, does Homewood retain its identity? What happens when the abatements expire -- do you phase the new tax collections in gradually, or all at once? Does the new money go straight to the general fund, or into a pot dedicated to housing initiatives? Should the city attach an affordable housing component to the tax abatement?

But development-starved cities sometimes intentionally step around those conversations, he said. "You say, 'We're in desperation phase here. We need to take any development we can get.' "

If Pittsburgh hopes to replicate Philadelphia's success, it must be wary that Philadelphia has some built-in advantages that Pittsburgh won't be able to exploit. For one, Philadelphia is well positioned to capture buyers from New York City and, to a lesser extent, Washington, D.C., who have money to spend on the East Coast, but have been priced out of the largest metro markets. New Yorkers, in fact, have taken to calling Philadelphia the "sixth borough" in recent years. Pittsburgh, obviously, isn't so positioned.

Second, Philadelphia's suburbs are saturated with housing. Bucks, Chester and Montgomery counties are rebuffing some developers because of their own crowding and traffic concerns. In the Pittsburgh region, places such as Butler, Beaver, Washington and Westmoreland counties -- despite lots of development in places such as Murrysville, Cranberry and Peters -- haven't reached a saturation point yet.

Third, when it came to reinvigorating its downtown, Philadelphia was able to build upon the existing housing stock since its flat and sprawling downtown already was a residential hub. "There was a lot of pent-up demand for decent housing in the city, said Ed Dodson, a retired Fannie Mae executive.


Boon for empty-nesters
On the other hand, Pittsburgh shares some demographic similarities with Philadelphia, including a high percentage of senior citizens and early baby boomers who wouldn't mind living close to Downtown, but would prefer something new to something old.

This tax break caters to them especially, since one of the disadvantages to living in both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia is the big wage tax. But if your wage-earning years are over, and you also get out of paying property taxes for 10 years, that's a deal that can't be matched by even the suburban communities with low millage rates. "The abatement that either candidate is proposing in Pittsburgh is perfect for empty-nesters," said Joshua Vincent, director of the Philadelphia-based Henry George Foundation's Center for the Study of Economics.

Pittsburgh, because of cheaper land and home prices, might be better positioned than Philadelphia to convince individual buyers to invest via the abatement program. Philadelphia's program failed in that regard, and even the outlying single-family homes were financed by major developers, said Vern Anastasio, a Democrat running for city council in Philadelphia's District 1. He's also a real estate lawyer.

"That's where my rub with the 10-year tax abatement comes in," he said. The tax break meant he was "able to stay in the neighborhood I was born and raised in." He bought a property on the cheap, and built his own house, but he was an exception, not a fair example of the program's impact.

Those familiar with the Philadelphia experience also caution against trying to force housing into the underdeveloped parts of Pittsburgh, as both Mr. Peduto and Mr. Ravenstahl hope to do by limiting the tax breaks to neighborhoods such as the Lower Hill, Uptown, Knoxville, Lincoln-Larimer and Allentown.

Philadelphia's abatement program, for example, has so far failed to force development in the area north of Center City, even though that was one of the goals. "Take the subway north about five stops" from Center City, Mr. Vincent said. "Make sure it's daytime. Get off the subway, just walk five blocks in any direction, and you'll see a wasteland. It's Dresden after the bombing."

That's because the housing market doesn't mind being pushed from behind, but doesn't like it when you grab the wheel.

"It's just plain tough to get people to build in areas that aren't driven by the market," said Mr. Mandel. "The truth is, the market is a powerful thing. If the market is not demanding that something get built, good luck."

A citywide abatement is maybe a better way to go, he said.

Or maybe it isn't. Pittsburgh, which is much smaller geographically than Philadelphia, must be more careful about forfeiting potential revenue than its eastern brother.

"Philadelphia doesn't have to do all of the right things, and they can still survive and even partially thrive," said Mr. Dodson. "Pittsburgh is in a much more precarious position. Pittsburgh has to do all the right things."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Bill Toland can be reached at btoland@post-gazette.com or 1-412-263-2625. )

[Evergrey]

an a comparison with Baltimore and Cleveland

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07070/768561-28.stm

Baltimore, Cleveland do it differently
Sunday, March 11, 2007

By Bill Toland, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

BALTIMORE-- Soaring above Baltimore's Inner Harbor and entertainment district is the building now known as 414 Water Street. Offering 31 stories of luxury condos within walking distance of downtown and the remade harbor, it's among the city's latest entrants in the growing field of downtown housing.

Nearby is the Ritz-Carlton condo project, set to open this fall, and around the bend in the bay, rising from the former warehouse district called Harbor East, is the sold-out Vue condominium. By the end of the decade, more than 3,000 new urban housing units could be on the market -- or already occupied -- in Baltimore, a city that has historically faced some of the same industrial blight issues as did Pittsburgh.

But in Baltimore, you'll find no sweeping 10-year tax abatements encouraging new construction and residential conversions. They did it the old-fashioned way here, by listening to the market, then creating a menu of smaller tax breaks for builders -- there's a grant fund for historic building conversions; there's also a gap loan pool for developers who can't quite gather the financing they need. And on a case-by-case basis, the city will negotiate so-called PILOTS, or payments in lieu of taxes, for developers who can't meet the tax burden.

The menu of options works better for Baltimore than the Philadelphia model, a one-size-fits-all, decade-long tax break. Philadelphia's version "makes a lot of sense from a fairness standpoint," in that the same discount opportunities are extended to everyone, said Bob Aydukovic, the vice president of economic development for the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, Inc.

"But Baltimore has a different view of how it does public-private partnerships. It's not a blanket, it's an investment," he said.

The buyers followed the investment. The same slate of buyers attracted to downtown housing in other cities -- childless young professionals and empty-nesters downsizing their lifestyle -- were attracted to the compact downtown of what many refer to as Charm City, and the immediate downtown population has doubled here in just six years.


Cleveland more aggressive
Cleveland, meanwhile, has been charting a different course, wooing city residents and developers with an aggressive 15-year property tax waiver on the home value -- as in Philadelphia, the land is still taxable. That applies to new construction; rehabbed homes get a 10-year tax break.

Previously, the city had offered shorter abatements and smaller tax breaks in various city neighborhoods. The current plan, offering full abatements across the city on new building value, was enacted in 1999.

Cleveland, as a result, has seen its total housing value increase by $370 million over the life of the abatement program, Cleveland State University researchers estimate. The same study says Cleveland, its county and its schools reap $1.50 for every dollar of city property tax that is abated. New housing starts number about 1,000 each year -- in the late 1980s, fewer than 50 new homes were built each year in Cleveland, a city of about 478,000.

"We also found that over 60 percent of the people who built new homes would not have built them without the abatement," said Sabra Pierce Scott, a city councilwoman and head of the council's community and economic development committee.

In both cities, there are varying degrees of backlash.

Like many parts of the country, Baltimore is already seeing a slump in its housing sector, and is worried that there will be too many units on the market when it's all said and done. In Cleveland, city council is trying to decide what to do with the abatement program -- retire it, extend it, tweak it or reduce the 15-year duration -- now that the authorizing legislation is set to expire this summer .

The city is also finding out that, once developers are hooked on the tax breaks, they want to keep getting their fix. "I will not build without tax abatement," developer Doug Price told The Plain Dealer of Cleveland. "Without tax abatement, I will never get the loans to finance the project."

Mrs. Scott, the councilwoman, said she didn't expect the abatement program to be changed substantially, and in fact it might be expanded to target certain groups -- extra incentives, for example, directed at school teachers who live outside of the city.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Bill Toland can be reached at btoland@post-gazette.com or 1-412-263-2625. )

[BMikeSci]

In the past five years, police responded to 337 gun assaults, 22 homicides and 1,329 drug offenses, and made 93 prostitution arrests. During the same period, the city's second-most dangerous neighborhood -- the Hill District -- recorded 119 gun assaults, 17 homicides, 600 drug arrests and 40 for prostitution.




Jill King Greenwood can be reached at jgreenwood@tribweb.com or 412-321-2160.

I don't see why people are always talking about preserving the Hill District. Why preserve a dangerous crime area. The Hill needs to be remade with integrated demographics - Homewood too. Just about any change would be an improvement. Knock down the abandoned houses right away. How long does it take to move a wrecking ball in and give a house a few wacks? Clean the debris as the city can afford it, but get the criminals out of their hiding places. As the crime stats improve, you'll see developers move in to build new homes.

[BMikeSci]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07070/768266-147.stm


A 25 percent reduction in bus-trolley service hours resulting in the elimination of 124 of 213 bus routes; a fare increase to either a $2 flat fare or $2.50 base fare using the current zone system; the layoff of at least 400 employees; and idling about 150 buses and minibuses.

.

Sure, change the base fare, but give something back too. San Francisco gives you 4 hours of travel time from the time you purchase a ticket. That means riders can change buses several times on one trip. This would help riders have alternative routes once the routes are cut. Oh, and BTW, then people can pay as they enter and leave through all doors. That should make travel a little easier and quicker for the ridership.

[hyperion1110]

I agree about the Hill. Because of crime and half-hearted attempts at urban renewal, that part of the city is literally a shell of it's former self. The same goes for Homewood, though, actually, I think to a lesser extent. Some preservation could be done in Homewood. But from years of riding the bus through the Hill, I have seen nothing worth saving.


Tear it down and build it again. Something needs to be done about that crime and blight.

[Evergrey]

Youre forgetting about the lessons of the past. Tear down the Hill and displace the thousands of residents still there... and they'll enter a new neighborhood and that new neighborhood will decline... (I know it sounds harsh)... but how did Homewood decline from a quasi-suburban neighborhood of mansions to a violent slum? Because we destroyed the Lower Hill and displaced those poor, desperate residents. The displacement also negatively affected North Side neighborhoods like Manchester. There's a lot of racism, classicism, fear of crime, etc. that goes into type of displacement. There are a lot of ethical and practical reasons why such a strategy is folly.

[hyperion1110]

True, but those cultural problems will continue to exist even if you try to simply redevelop those areas. The people need to move away from crime and work toward building a better community.

There always seems to be this comparison between crime and poverty. And while I cannot deny that there is a relationship between poverty and property crimes, there is no logical connection between poverty and violent crime...that is a cultural issue that must be addressed within the community.

I honestly can't say I know what's best for the Hill or for Homewood. But I do know poverty is the least of their problems. I grew up in a poor area (Spring Garden), and our occurrence of violent crimes was truly non-existent.

So I guess I can sum up by saying fix the problems with the people, and the neighborhood will follow.

[Grego43]

I'm always bitchin' about the lack of a comprehensive plan in the Pittsburgh metro for things such as transit and road construction...Check out this link to the Seattle plan which anticipates transit needs 20 years hence.

http://st2.soundtransit.org/map/

It was in 1997 that the initial city of Pittsburgh study was undertaken that warranted additional study of a transit link to the North Shore...ground was broken nearly 10 years later!!! Construction will not be complete until 2011. Fourteen years, give or take, after the damned study commenced! Does anyone really believe we will see in our lifetime lines to Oakland/East End, North Hills, and PIT? I don't even want to start a rant about lack of planning to expand the Parkway West/Ft Pitt tunnels...

Does anyone at PAT, the County, or the city have a friggin' clue???

[Wheelingman04]

Youre forgetting about the lessons of the past. Tear down the Hill and displace the thousands of residents still there... and they'll enter a new neighborhood and that new neighborhood will decline... (I know it sounds harsh)... but how did Homewood decline from a quasi-suburban neighborhood of mansions to a violent slum? Because we destroyed the Lower Hill and displaced those poor, desperate residents. The displacement also negatively affected North Side neighborhoods like Manchester. There's a lot of racism, classicism, fear of crime, etc. that goes into type of displacement. There are a lot of ethical and practical reasons why such a strategy is folly.

Well said. I totally agree.:tup:

[AaronPGH]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07071/769025-100.stm

Penguins, officials reach deal on arena

Monday, March 12, 2007
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Cancel the movers. The Penguins aren't going anywhere.

Sources close to the negotiations say that the team has an agreement with state and local leaders for a new arena that will be ready for the 2009-10 season.

The terms of the agreement call for a 30-year lease and spell out contributions from the team, the state and from gambling revenues.

A formal announcement is expected sometime tomorrow, prior to the Penguins home game at 7:30 p.m. against the Buffalo Sabres. More details to come.

[hyperion1110]

If true, that is totally awesome!!! :banana:

[BMikeSci]

Youre forgetting about the lessons of the past. Tear down the Hill and displace the thousands of residents still there... and they'll enter a new neighborhood and that new neighborhood will decline... (I know it sounds harsh)... but how did Homewood decline from a quasi-suburban neighborhood of mansions to a violent slum? Because we destroyed the Lower Hill and displaced those poor, desperate residents. The displacement also negatively affected North Side neighborhoods like Manchester. There's a lot of racism, classicism, fear of crime, etc. that goes into type of displacement. There are a lot of ethical and practical reasons why such a strategy is folly.

I think that integration is the key. When neighborhoods are economically, socially, and ethnically diverse, there is less crime.

[Evergrey]

I agree, Mike... but it's important to be sensitive to the existing community... this type of thing is already going on in East Liberty and the Lower Hill (Crawford Square)... these new mixed-income housing developments have been successful in many ways... but one problem they've had is with the displacement of long-time residents... the condemned East Liberty high-rises displaced many residents whose whereabouts are now unknown because the Housing Authority failed to keep track of them after handing out their housing vouchers... so it's impossible to know how many of these former residents are returning to live in the newly constructed E. Liberty housing...

[Evergrey]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07072/769032-85.stm

Arena deal keeps Penguins in Pittsburgh
Tuesday, March 13, 2007

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



The puck stays here.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have reached an agreement with state and local officials for construction of a new arena that keeps the team here under a 30-year lease.

The basics of the agreement were reached during a make-or-break meeting last week in Philadelphia where both sides reported that signficant progress was made and most of the remaining details were worked out over the weekend, according to sources close to the negotiations.

A formal announcement will be made later today, before the Penguins 7:30 p.m. home game against the Buffalo Sabres.

The new arena, expected to cost about $290 million, is expected to be ready for the 2009-2010 season.

The Penguins will continue to play at Mellon Arena under a short-term lease extension until the new arena is built.

Under the terms of the deal, the Pens will pay $3.8 million per year toward construction and will add another $400,000 per year for capital improvements.

A meeting had been scheduled for Wednesday here where Penguins officials were supposed to meet with Gov. Ed Rendell, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and County Chief Executive Dan Onorato.

That meeting may only be needed to finalize the deal that officials have been seeking for months.

Chuck Ardo, the governor's spokesman, said he could not confirm there was a deal last night.

But there was growing optimism that an agreement was near after a meeting Thursday in Philadelphia that lasted more than four hours.

Neither Mario Lemieux nor Ron Burkle could be reached for comment last night. Both were expected to attend tomorrow's scheduled meeting.

That atmosphere following the meeting in Philadelphia was quite a turnaround from the climate only four days before, when Mr. Lemieux and Mr. Burkle sent a letter to the politicians declaring an impasse in the talks and saying they would aggressively explore relocation.

What followed was a trip to Las Vegas, which is pursuing professional sports teams, and a sweetened offer from Kansas City, where the $276 million Sprint Center will be ready this year. The new offer improved on a deal that included free rent and half the building revenues.

With the Penguins' future in Pittsburgh hanging in the balance, however, Thursday's session in Philadelphia apparently significantly narrowed the differences between the two sides.

Neither Mr. Onorato nor Mr. Ravenstahl were available for comment yesterday.

Even before Thursday's meeting, the two sides did not appear to be far apart.

Under the agreement, the Penguins also would pay $500,000 a year for a parking garage.

The rest of the arena funding would come from Pittsburgh casino licensee Don Barden, who would contribute $7.5 million a year and another $7.5 million annually from a gambling-financed state economic development fund.

One unresolved issue going into Thursday's meeting was how to pay the extra $20 million that was added as a contingency to a proposed arena bond issue, increasing it from $270 million to $290 million.

The Penguins and the state have agreed to split the cost of any additonal costs exceeding $290 million up to $310 million, sources said.

Even as negotiators try to hammer out a final deal, the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority has fallen behind schedule in demolishing 11 buildings in the Fifth and Centre Avenue corridors in Uptown for the new arena.

The work probably won't start for another two weeks, said Doug Straley, authority development manager. The authority originally had hoped to begin in early February.

Despite the delay, Mr. Straley said the authority still expects to have the site cleared by Sept. 1, when construction of the arena is expected to start, with hopes of opening it in 2009.

He said demolition of the 11 buildings -- nine on Fifth Avenue and two on the Epiphany Church campus -- is expected to take four months. Empire Dismantlement Corp. of Grand Island, N.Y., received a $926,419 contract to do the work.

"This demolition can get done well within the time frame to deliver the site," he said.

In explaining the delay, Mr. Straley cited the Feb. 5 collapse of a section of flooring at the authority-owned David L. Lawrence Convention Center, saying that diverted staff time away from the arena. He also said it took longer than expected to remove asbestos from the buildings to be razed.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262. )

[PhillyRising]

^This will be the most important building built in Pittsburgh in years. You will see how it will bring events to town that bypassed the city for years. State of the Art indoor arenas are a good investment.

Screw You KC...Piss Off Houston...Too Bad Vegas. The Penguins belong to Pittsburgh! :D

[hyperion1110]

:previous: Amen, brother, amen!

[Evergrey]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_497444.html

Sources: Pittsburgh arena deal done

By Andrew Conte
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, March 13, 2007


The Penguins have reached a deal with city, county and state officials for a new Uptown arena that will keep the team in Pittsburgh for the next 30 years, sources close to the negotiations said late Monday night.
Details of the $290 million agreement will be announced before tonight's game against the Buffalo Sabres at Mellon Arena, which has been home to the team since it joined the National Hockey League in 1967.

A spokesman for Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said he knew nothing of a deal.






"I never heard that. I heard nothing like that," spokesman Dick Skrinjar said.


A spokesman for Gov. Ed Rendell refused to confirm the deal.


"I can't confirm a report of any settlement," Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said. "The sides have communicated since last Thursday. This is an ongoing process."

County leaders and team officials could not be reached for comment.

Under the terms of the 30-year lease, the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority will own the arena, which will be operated by the Penguins.

The team will get all the revenue from the arena and pay all operating costs, sources said.

The deal calls for the state to pay $7.5 million annually from a state economic development fund and slot machine revenues.

Don Barden, owner of Majestic Star Casino LLC, which has been awarded the slots license for Pittsburgh, will pay $7.5 million a year, and the team will pay $3.8 million a year, plus $400,000 a year in capital improvements.

Issues surrounding the development of the Mellon Arena site have been resolved, but details were not known last night.

The Penguins have an option of paying $500,000 a year to build a parking garage near the arena, which will be on property owned by the Sports & Exhibition Authority between Centre and Fifth avenues. The agency plans to break ground by September and complete construction by fall 2009.

The Penguins lease at Mellon Arena expires in June.

Word of the agreement comes a week after the Penguins declared that the talks had reached an impasse and renewed discussions with officials with AEG, the company hired to operate Kansas City's new Sprint Center.

The deal was reached at Thursday's meeting between team co-owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle, Rendell, Ravenstahl and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato.

National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman mediated the talks, which officials told reporters was held at a secret location in Philadelphia but actually were held in New Jersey.

Details were finalized over the weekend.




Andrew Conte can be reached at aconte@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7835.

[Evergrey]

whoa... I was JUST talking about this (displacement of E. Liberty residents)

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07072/768969-53.stm

Film captures moods of East Liberty residents
They're experiencing some painful transitions
Tuesday, March 13, 2007

By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



The Get Down! festival in May 2005 was intended as a celebration.

The center of attention was East Mall, a doomed 18-story subsidized apartment building straddling Penn Avenue. After speeches about the neighborhood's bright future, various grinning officials and guests took turns tugging and releasing a giant slingshot launching paint balloons against East Mall, the spectacle recorded by a 32-year-old filmmaker hired to document the event.

As the camera panned faces in the crowd during the mayor's remarks, most were black, and most were pensive.

Chris Ivey said he sensed a shifting of his purpose when, from the stage, Alethea Sims, leader of the Coalition of Organized Residents, or CORE, noted archly that few former residents of East Mall were on hand.

"I thought, 'Something just isn't right here,' " Mr. Ivey said one recent day over lunch. He was discussing the 90-minute documentary that resulted more than a year after his gig to film the daylong street party for East Liberty Development Inc.

"East of Liberty: A Story of Good Intentions" is a clear-eyed chronicle of East Liberty's transition, with footage and interviews of former city officials, housing advocates, merchants, artists and local residents.

The film focused on displacement of residents from the razed buildings amid East Liberty's economic turnaround. Screenings of the film at various venues in the city coincide with the first stages of relocating up to 292 displaced residents.

With fliers, ads and mailings, the Urban Redevelopment Authority has made contact with about 150 of them, all but two of whom say they want to return, said Collette O'Leary, the URA's housing development manager.

The rest have not responded, or mailings have come back as undeliverable, she said.

The URA requests that anyone who was displaced from East Mall, Liberty Park or Penn Circle apartments and wants a replacement unit in any of the future developments in East Liberty call 412-255-6672.

The new Penn Manor opened late last year and brought 23 families back. Of 55 units, all of which are filled, 39 are affordable to lower-income families, said Ernie Hogan, housing specialist for East Liberty Development Inc. Displaced residents would bump people on the waiting list of about 90, he said.

The first phase of Fairfield, the Liberty Park replacement of 124 mixed-income townhouses, lofts and apartments, is on schedule to open by August.

Within the next few years, a residential and retail development is expected to replace East Mall, and 41 homes throughout the neighborhood, most of them rehabs, will all be affordable to those with lower incomes.

For many, a move back will be one more in a cycle of moves.

"We are just chessmen on a board, moving here, moving there, just numbers," said Deloris Morris, a member of CORE.

To her and many residents of East Mall, the city's paintball party was a vulgar display of disrespect.

Asked how she felt about the paintballs aimed at East Mall, Ms. Morris looked at the camera and said, "I wanted to throw one at the mayor. If I did that [vandalizing a building], I'd go to jail."

Mr. Ivey said he was compelled by people's frustration: "People had to get their anger out before a dialogue could start."

Mr. Ivey plans to sustain the conversation with three more films on the East Liberty theme, he said.

"Some thought I was going to make East Liberty look bad," he said. "But the thing I am proudest of is of getting everyone's point of view."

Mr. Ivey moved to Pittsburgh from his native North Carolina in the mid-1990s to attend Pittsburgh Filmmakers. Some of his subjects have misjudged him as "a rich kid from the suburbs," he said, which made filming a lesson in trust. "The truth is, I grew up in a working-class home and had to work for what I got."

He has filmed ads and commercial video locally, but the documentary form is liberating, he said. "It has helped me find my voice."

The second film of the series is about 30 percent complete, he said. It will follow residents as they resettle.

The Sprout Fund, the Pittsburgh Foundation and the Multicultural Arts Initiative are supporting the project.

Champions of East Liberty's transition say the antidote to the "white flight" of decades ago is the return of the middle class. To the vulnerable, though, "the new people" appear to be the intended fit for replacement housing, even when there is plenty for everyone.

The townhouses, apartments and lofts that are replacing high-rises are less dense and they mesh affordable and market-rate rents.

Some in Mr. Ivey's film say they think investors are making a deliberate effort to extinguish East Liberty by rebranding it with new names, like Eastside, the complex that includes Whole Foods.

"I get e-mails and calls from people who complain about Eastside," said Malik Bankston, executive director of the Kingsley Association.

"They say East Liberty's being taken back for the benefit of Shadyside. But I have friends in Larimer [and other neighborhoods] who shop in Eastside because they like the amenities, too."

After a recent screening of the film in the Hill District, Mr. Ivey stood at the front of the Kaufmann Auditorium to field comments and questions.

A young woman pleaded for his insight, crediting the experience he gained making the film, on how the Hill District can make a healthy transition without displacing people who want to stay.

Mr. Ivey shrugged modestly and said, "I guess I'd say, 'Talk to each other.' "


Screenings of "East of Liberty" are March 23-24 at 8 p.m., at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater, with a possible Saturday matinee. Consult www.eastofliberty.com for details.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Diana Nelson Jones can be reached at djones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1626. )

[BMikeSci]

I agree, Mike... but it's important to be sensitive to the existing community... this type of thing is already going on in East Liberty and the Lower Hill (Crawford Square)... these new mixed-income housing developments have been successful in many ways... but one problem they've had is with the displacement of long-time residents... the condemned East Liberty high-rises displaced many residents whose whereabouts are now unknown because the Housing Authority failed to keep track of them after handing out their housing vouchers... so it's impossible to know how many of these former residents are returning to live in the newly constructed E. Liberty housing...


Yes. communities and familys are important, but so is controlling violence. If the Hill were a safe non-violent community, I would fight to keep it intact with all my ability. It's not, however. How many murders does it take before we can say that a neighboorhood is terminally ill? Show me parts of this community that need to be saved, and I will fight to save those parts, but the whole is an atrocity. I would love to see figures on how much is spent policing the hill, compared to other neighborhoods. Is it the case that the Hill is not getting services, or is the Hill out of control? I'm not advocating destroying all the housing, I'm recommending that the abandoned properties are leveled, and that new construction takes place. Bring in some money, and the services will improve. Residents will feel a stronger pride, etc. In Manhattan, people in housing projects are so happy to have affordable apartments that would otherwise cost a million, that crime in manhattan projects is almost non-existent. Improving neighborhoods promotes neighborhood pride - and that keeps the crime down.

[BMikeSci]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07072/769032-85.stm

Arena deal keeps Penguins in Pittsburgh
Tuesday, March 13, 2007

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



The puck stays here.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have reached an agreement with state and local officials for construction of a new arena that keeps the team here under a 30-year lease.

The basics of the agreement were reached during a make-or-break meeting last week in Philadelphia where both sides reported that signficant progress was made and most of the remaining details were worked out over the weekend, according to sources close to the negotiations.

A formal announcement will be made later today, before the Penguins 7:30 p.m. home game against the Buffalo Sabres.

The new arena, expected to cost about $290 million, is expected to be ready for the 2009-2010 season.

The Penguins will continue to play at Mellon Arena under a short-term lease extension until the new arena is built.

Under the terms of the deal, the Pens will pay $3.8 million per year toward construction and will add another $400,000 per year for capital improvements.

A meeting had been scheduled for Wednesday here where Penguins officials were supposed to meet with Gov. Ed Rendell, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and County Chief Executive Dan Onorato.

That meeting may only be needed to finalize the deal that officials have been seeking for months.

Chuck Ardo, the governor's spokesman, said he could not confirm there was a deal last night.

But there was growing optimism that an agreement was near after a meeting Thursday in Philadelphia that lasted more than four hours.

Neither Mario Lemieux nor Ron Burkle could be reached for comment last night. Both were expected to attend tomorrow's scheduled meeting.

That atmosphere following the meeting in Philadelphia was quite a turnaround from the climate only four days before, when Mr. Lemieux and Mr. Burkle sent a letter to the politicians declaring an impasse in the talks and saying they would aggressively explore relocation.

What followed was a trip to Las Vegas, which is pursuing professional sports teams, and a sweetened offer from Kansas City, where the $276 million Sprint Center will be ready this year. The new offer improved on a deal that included free rent and half the building revenues.

With the Penguins' future in Pittsburgh hanging in the balance, however, Thursday's session in Philadelphia apparently significantly narrowed the differences between the two sides.

Neither Mr. Onorato nor Mr. Ravenstahl were available for comment yesterday.

Even before Thursday's meeting, the two sides did not appear to be far apart.

Under the agreement, the Penguins also would pay $500,000 a year for a parking garage.

The rest of the arena funding would come from Pittsburgh casino licensee Don Barden, who would contribute $7.5 million a year and another $7.5 million annually from a gambling-financed state economic development fund.

One unresolved issue going into Thursday's meeting was how to pay the extra $20 million that was added as a contingency to a proposed arena bond issue, increasing it from $270 million to $290 million.

The Penguins and the state have agreed to split the cost of any additonal costs exceeding $290 million up to $310 million, sources said.

Even as negotiators try to hammer out a final deal, the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority has fallen behind schedule in demolishing 11 buildings in the Fifth and Centre Avenue corridors in Uptown for the new arena.

The work probably won't start for another two weeks, said Doug Straley, authority development manager. The authority originally had hoped to begin in early February.

Despite the delay, Mr. Straley said the authority still expects to have the site cleared by Sept. 1, when construction of the arena is expected to start, with hopes of opening it in 2009.

He said demolition of the 11 buildings -- nine on Fifth Avenue and two on the Epiphany Church campus -- is expected to take four months. Empire Dismantlement Corp. of Grand Island, N.Y., received a $926,419 contract to do the work.

"This demolition can get done well within the time frame to deliver the site," he said.

In explaining the delay, Mr. Straley cited the Feb. 5 collapse of a section of flooring at the authority-owned David L. Lawrence Convention Center, saying that diverted staff time away from the arena. He also said it took longer than expected to remove asbestos from the buildings to be razed.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262. )

Does anyone know if with the casino out of the picture, are the demolition plans changed to save that historic building adjacent to the church?

[BMikeSci]

whoa... I was JUST talking about this (displacement of E. Liberty residents)

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07072/768969-53.stm

Film captures moods of East Liberty residents
They're experiencing some painful transitions
Tuesday, March 13, 2007

By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



The Get Down! festival in May 2005 was intended as a celebration.

The center of attention was East Mall, a doomed 18-story subsidized apartment building straddling Penn Avenue. After speeches about the neighborhood's bright future, various grinning officials and guests took turns tugging and releasing a giant slingshot launching paint balloons against East Mall, the spectacle recorded by a 32-year-old filmmaker hired to document the event.

As the camera panned faces in the crowd during the mayor's remarks, most were black, and most were pensive.

Chris Ivey said he sensed a shifting of his purpose when, from the stage, Alethea Sims, leader of the Coalition of Organized Residents, or CORE, noted archly that few former residents of East Mall were on hand.

"I thought, 'Something just isn't right here,' " Mr. Ivey said one recent day over lunch. He was discussing the 90-minute documentary that resulted more than a year after his gig to film the daylong street party for East Liberty Development Inc.

"East of Liberty: A Story of Good Intentions" is a clear-eyed chronicle of East Liberty's transition, with footage and interviews of former city officials, housing advocates, merchants, artists and local residents.

The film focused on displacement of residents from the razed buildings amid East Liberty's economic turnaround. Screenings of the film at various venues in the city coincide with the first stages of relocating up to 292 displaced residents.

With fliers, ads and mailings, the Urban Redevelopment Authority has made contact with about 150 of them, all but two of whom say they want to return, said Collette O'Leary, the URA's housing development manager.

The rest have not responded, or mailings have come back as undeliverable, she said.

The URA requests that anyone who was displaced from East Mall, Liberty Park or Penn Circle apartments and wants a replacement unit in any of the future developments in East Liberty call 412-255-6672.

The new Penn Manor opened late last year and brought 23 families back. Of 55 units, all of which are filled, 39 are affordable to lower-income families, said Ernie Hogan, housing specialist for East Liberty Development Inc. Displaced residents would bump people on the waiting list of about 90, he said.

The first phase of Fairfield, the Liberty Park replacement of 124 mixed-income townhouses, lofts and apartments, is on schedule to open by August.

Within the next few years, a residential and retail development is expected to replace East Mall, and 41 homes throughout the neighborhood, most of them rehabs, will all be affordable to those with lower incomes.

For many, a move back will be one more in a cycle of moves.

"We are just chessmen on a board, moving here, moving there, just numbers," said Deloris Morris, a member of CORE.

To her and many residents of East Mall, the city's paintball party was a vulgar display of disrespect.

Asked how she felt about the paintballs aimed at East Mall, Ms. Morris looked at the camera and said, "I wanted to throw one at the mayor. If I did that [vandalizing a building], I'd go to jail."

Mr. Ivey said he was compelled by people's frustration: "People had to get their anger out before a dialogue could start."

Mr. Ivey plans to sustain the conversation with three more films on the East Liberty theme, he said.

"Some thought I was going to make East Liberty look bad," he said. "But the thing I am proudest of is of getting everyone's point of view."

Mr. Ivey moved to Pittsburgh from his native North Carolina in the mid-1990s to attend Pittsburgh Filmmakers. Some of his subjects have misjudged him as "a rich kid from the suburbs," he said, which made filming a lesson in trust. "The truth is, I grew up in a working-class home and had to work for what I got."

He has filmed ads and commercial video locally, but the documentary form is liberating, he said. "It has helped me find my voice."

The second film of the series is about 30 percent complete, he said. It will follow residents as they resettle.

The Sprout Fund, the Pittsburgh Foundation and the Multicultural Arts Initiative are supporting the project.

Champions of East Liberty's transition say the antidote to the "white flight" of decades ago is the return of the middle class. To the vulnerable, though, "the new people" appear to be the intended fit for replacement housing, even when there is plenty for everyone.

The townhouses, apartments and lofts that are replacing high-rises are less dense and they mesh affordable and market-rate rents.

Some in Mr. Ivey's film say they think investors are making a deliberate effort to extinguish East Liberty by rebranding it with new names, like Eastside, the complex that includes Whole Foods.

"I get e-mails and calls from people who complain about Eastside," said Malik Bankston, executive director of the Kingsley Association.

"They say East Liberty's being taken back for the benefit of Shadyside. But I have friends in Larimer [and other neighborhoods] who shop in Eastside because they like the amenities, too."

After a recent screening of the film in the Hill District, Mr. Ivey stood at the front of the Kaufmann Auditorium to field comments and questions.

A young woman pleaded for his insight, crediting the experience he gained making the film, on how the Hill District can make a healthy transition without displacing people who want to stay.

Mr. Ivey shrugged modestly and said, "I guess I'd say, 'Talk to each other.' "


Screenings of "East of Liberty" are March 23-24 at 8 p.m., at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater, with a possible Saturday matinee. Consult www.eastofliberty.com for details.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Diana Nelson Jones can be reached at djones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1626. )

Hey, I'm displaced! I can no longer afford to live in manhattan - or anywhere else in the NYC area, but I don't feel like throwing paint at anyone. I moved somewhere cheaper. There will always be neighborhoods that go up in value - and others that go down. Those who can afford the ones that go up will move there, those who can't won't or will move. Even in Moscow - under the communists, it was hard to get an apartment in the best neighborhoods. Now, East Liberty is not Paris, but Shadyside is bursting at the seems; so East Liberty is getting more expensive. I'm sorry that some people are feeling the pinch, but I can't understand how they can talk about attacking the mayor. This city needs to have neighborhoods improve. There is a lot of infrastructure here that needs to be maintained, and that takes tax revenue. I'm sorry, but I can't feel too bad when there are so many really cheap neighborhoods to move to here.

[PittPenn 03]

Okay, Rendell is talking about it, so I am almost comfortable that it is a done deal.

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/07072/769064-100.stm

Rendell credits casinos with keeping Penguins in city
Tuesday, March 13, 2007

By Tom Barnes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

HARRISBURG -- Gov. Ed Rendell today credited the anticipated revenue from Pennsylvania's new casinos for keeping the Penguins in Pittsburgh.

Mr. Rendell spoke this morning at a Spectrum Gaming Group conference in Harrisburg about gaming in Pennsylvania.

"This afternoon I am traveling to Pittsburgh, where we will announce that all three government entities (state, county, city) have agreed to keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh for the next 30 years. We will build a beautiful new arena.

"Make no mistake about it -- without expanded gaming in Pennsylvania, the Penguins would be gone. The first puck would have been dropped next year in Kansas City."

Kansas City has an almost-finished new arena and has been seeking a hockey team.

The new Pittsburgh arena will be financed by a bond issue with annual debt service payments of $21 million. Of that, $15 million a year will come from gaming, he said, $7.5 million from slots license winner Don Barden and another $7.5 million from a new entertainment fund paid for with gaming dollars.

"If you don't like gaming, understand that we would have lost a very important institution for Pittsburgh. The Penguins would have been gone," Mr. Rendell said.

"There is no way that the county executive or the mayor would have used taxpayers' money to build the arena. There are limits to what the state could do. Nowhere close to a $15 million commitment from the state would have been possible without gaming."

Sources told the Post-Gazette last night that remaining details of the deal had been worked out over the weekend and the formal announcement would be made before tonight's hockey game.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Evergrey]

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/52garfld.aspx

March 14, 2007

PHFA program building 50 new homes in Garfield

When completed, a three-phase housing initiative in the city’s Garfield neighborhood will feature fifty new single-family homes. The Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation is developing the scattered site residential project.

Six of phase two’s first eight homes have sold; eight additional homes will be built this spring. The three-bedroom, three-story homes range from 1,500 to 2,000 square feet and feature basements and 1 1/2-2 bathrooms. Many homes feature garages, rear patios and front porches.

Slated to break ground during March of 2008, the third phase will feature nineteen new houses on N. Winebiddle, Broad, Dearborn, N. Evaline and N. Millvale. Tai + Lee are designing the homes; contractor is Steve Catranell Construction Company. The low-to-moderate incomes homes will sell for approximately $145,000.

“It’s been very successful. They really are very nice houses—Catranell is a great contractor,” says Collette O’Leary with the URA. “Residents are happy with the properties and with where they’re living.”

Funded by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA), the development is a pilot project called the Garfield Home Ownership Choice program. “Garfield was one of the first neighborhoods in the city to receive this commitment from the PHFA,” says O’Leary. A majority of the project’s first fifteen homes were purchased by Garfield residents. “A number of buyers took advantage of the URA’s first time homebuyer and deferred second mortgage programs.”

Writer: Jennifer Baron
Source: Collette O'Leary, development manager, URA

Image courtesy of the URA

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%2052/garfield_house_300.jpg

[Evergrey]

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/151fs.aspx

March 14, 2007

Downtown's 151 First Side sells 53 of its 78 units

151 First Side, the first new condominium to be constructed in downtown’s Golden Triangle area since 1968, has sold 53 of its 78 units. Project developer Ralph Falbo says that four additional condos in the $28.6 million, 18-story building are close to being sold.

“Fifty percent of our sales are from people outside of town, essentially coming here to work in law firms, the academic community and downtown businesses. Local people make up the other portion,” says Falbo. “We have an industrialist who bought one of the two penthouses, a former U.S. Attorney who bought two units and combined them, a dean of a law school, an insurance executive, and an attorney who is very active in professional sports.” Falbo, who has also purchased one of the condos, says that First Side has also attracted young couples without children.

First Side’s one-, two- and three-bedroom condos range in size from 1,000 to 3,400 square feet. Amenities include concierge service, fitness and business centers and private balconies and terraces.

“It’s people who love living in an urban setting. The primary thing is its location--the fact that you can walk to the Symphony, Market Square, the Opera,” says Falbo, who looks forward to the addition of a gourmet grocery store that will serve downtown’s many residents and employees. “You also have very good exit ability in all directions and parking inside the building.”
151 First Side is on track to be completed during late summer.

Writer: Jennifer Baron
Source: Ralph Falbo


Photograph copyright © Jonathan Greene

http://www.popcitymedia.com/galleries/Default/Dev%20News/Issue%2052/151_firstside_300.jpg

[Evergrey]

http://www.popcitymedia.com/developmentnews/52CLPhill.aspx

March 14, 2007

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh to break ground on $3.15M Hill District branch in April

The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (CLP) has received approval to purchase five parcels of land from the URA for the construction of its new Hill District branch at the corner of Centre Ave. and Kirkpatrick St. The $3.15 million project marks the CLP’s first new library in the city in 27 years.

A groundbreaking ceremony is set for April 19th; construction of the 8,300 square-foot library is expected to take 12 months. “There’s a lot of growth along Centre; we want to serve as a community anchor for that development,” says Suzanne Thinnes with the CLP. “That corner gives us great visibility.”

Project architect Robert Pfaffmann facilitated public planning with library users, residents and community leaders. “As with every project, we start with an understanding of the place,” says Pfaffmann, who designed part of the library to resemble a commercial storefront for displaying books. “The community wanted the library to reflect the neighborhood’s history and also be modern,” says Thinnes. “The design is reminiscent of storefronts that thrived in the Hill.”

The energy efficient design incorporates a raised floor system, rain chains, recycled rebar and an urban bioswail. “The whole exterior is driven by light,” says Pfaffmann. “The glass enclosed reading room on the corner will be like an appendage with 270-degree views. You’ll see it like a lantern at night, coming up Centre.” Community greenspace will be created in a lot near Wylie Ave.

Designed on the site of a 1930s-era gas station, the library will include a teen lounge, gallery and reading room with café style seating. An inaugural exhibition will feature photographs by acclaimed Hill District native Charles “Teenie” Harris. Pfaffmann hopes to see the library’s surroundings become sites for community engagement, including transforming a billboard into outdoor art.

Writer: Jennifer Baron
Sources: Suzanne Thinnes; Robert Pfaffmann

Image courtesy of Pfaffmann and Associates and Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

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March 14, 2007

$20 million Land America Centre aims to reviltalize downtown Washington

Land America Centre, the first phase of The Crossroads, a $100 million revitalization project coming to downtown Washington, PA, is nearing completion. The 156,000 square-foot, 7-story office building is located at the corner of East Beau and North Franklin Sts., near Washington’s Main St. and County Courthouse. Designed by Strada, the $20 million Centre is the first high-rise office building constructed in Washington since 1977.

As anchor tenant, Land America will occupy 80,000 square feet of the building. Now at 75% occupancy, the Centre will also house Crazy Mocha Coffeehouse, First Federal of Monessen and Social Security Administration offices. “We’re talking to many interested tenants, and finalizing a lease with a 6,000 square-foot daycare center.” says Jack Piatt, Chairman of Millcraft Industries. “It’ll be full by the middle of the year.”

The energy efficient building is seeking LEED-certification for core and shell. “It’s a great modern, environmentally friendly building--anything that could be recycled during construction, was,” says Mark Caskey, director of business development with General Industries, project contractor. “We’re from Washington County and are very proud of this building—it does so much for the city.”

Developed by Millcraft, along with the Washington County Redevelopment Authority and Strada, Crossroads calls for new construction, a façade renovation of Millcraft Center, and the preservation of historic structures within a 14-block area. The project will feature new retail, a hotel, an 800-space parking garage, and a 1,000-capacity ampitheatre. Piatt says Crossroads will bring 1,000 jobs to downtown Washington. Millcraft is also planning to purchase the nearby Chestnut St. garage for further redevelopment. “We’d like to revamp the garage and wrap it with fifty apartments.”

Writer: Jennifer Baron
Source: Jack Piatt; Mark Caskey


Image courtesy of General Industries

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Ooo! More Cow/Goat coffee shops!!!

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50 new homes in Garfield

Nice looking homes.

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Reelect Al Gore 2008

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Developer Series: Lawrenceville

March 14, 2007
Once upon a time, and a very bad time it was, shabby, derelict Lawrenceville seemed down for the count. Although there were many houses from the Civil War era, historically attractive and built to last, time and tide were not kind. Too many were vermin-infested, boarded up, seemingly beyond repair. Windows agape, roofs torn, the worst hosted crack addicts – and pigeon refuse three inches deep.


“It was tough to see those changes,” RIDC’s Frank Brooks Robinson, Jr., says. “It was a tough time.”


Nevertheless, there was much to recommend the area. Sandwiched between Downtown and the pricey East End, Lawrenceville was “compelling,” developer Joe Edelstein says. There was a walkable Main Street, river frontage, a solid core community.


It’s hard to say who first saw real potential in the crumbling buildings, who had sufficient faith to put down cold cash – and sufficient persuasive powers to convince others to do the same.


Some say it was A-1 Realty’s Lee Gross, who, arriving in ’95, was first, or at least among the firsts. “Everything was all boarded up,” he remembers. Having heard that artists were finding their way to Lawrenceville, he thought he’d take a look. Liking what he saw, he bought a building. “Everyone thought I was crazy,” he says. But he liked the feel and bought another. After that, “I just went up and down the street,” he says.


In the last two years, Gross says, “Lawrenceville has recognition and demand has surged.” With upscale restaurants, boutiques, and galleries drawing professors and programmers, attorneys and architects, doctors and designers, “it’s a very hip crowd,” he says. “People love coming here. From 1995 to now the change is amazing.”



Transformed by Art

After Gross, another important arrival was Artists and Cities, a non-profit group providing affordable space for artists. Created in 1994 by Becky Burdick and Linda Metropulos, Artists and Cities targeted “neighborhoods that hadn’t yet had an opportunity to pick themselves up,” Metropulos says.


Fresh from their Spinning Plate success in Bloomfield, when Burdick and Metropulos transformed a former Baum Boulevard auto dealership into artists’ space, the two turned to Lawrenceville. “In the ‘90s virtually no one was investing in Lawrenceville,” Metropulos remembers. “Becky and I felt there was an opportunity to find a use for abandoned buildings and also to bring new construction to the neighborhood.”


At the time, the 100-year-old Ice House was boarded-up and bound in weeds. “It was a real gem,” Metropulos says of the 43rd Street factory, “that no one else saw in a neighborhood that no one else was interested in.” By ’99 they had secured funding, opening 32 artists’ work spaces in June, ’01.


Four years later, in ’05, came Blackbird Lofts, 36th and Butler, a new building that fit perfectly into the Lawrenceville architectural fabric. Designed by Strada’s legendary neighborhood-context maestro John Martine, Blackbird took 11,000 square feet of vacant space and transformed it into a middle-income mixed-use building. “Condominiums for wealthy people were not our model,” Metropulos says. “People thought we were crazy. But we pushed the envelope. We wanted people to invest here.”


They did. Not only did every one of the 15 loft-style units sell, but they went to “a great group of people,” she says, half of whom moved to Pittsburgh from elsewhere. Standing back, taking a deep breath, Artists and Cities closed it doors. “It’s one of the things I’m proudest of,” Metropulos says.



Impact of the Pioneers

Pride informs Joe Edelstein’s Lawrenceville projects, too. Like Lee Gross the recipient of numerous historic preservation awards, Edelstein’s Wylie Holdings has been working for a decade in Lawrenceville. He came, he says, because he wanted “a walkable neighborhood that had the prospect of becoming great. So we didn’t target serviceable, good-looking buildings. They’re not part of the problem. We wanted to make the greatest possible impact. We could take a building that’s falling down and turn it into something.


“I feel like a pioneer,” Edelstein adds. “It’s exciting to be part this revitalization; it’s a heady time. When I see scaffolding belonging to someone else, I’m happy. Because Lawrenceville is a good investment.”


RIDC’s Frank Brooks Robinson, Jr., knows all about good investments. Spreading out aerial photos of the Lawrenceville waterfront, there – there he circles a finger – are 14 acres, the former Heppenstall Steel site, “a very strategic property,” he says. Using words like “cluster” and “synergy,” Robinson speaks of “organically growing this development."


“I have a whole lot of optimism,” he adds. “This neighborhood – this site – has geography. There are risk takers -- committed people. Engines of growth. A good mix of neighborhood activity.”


An expert in brownfield development, he’s re-cast such former industrial sites as Keystone Commons (Westinghouse’s East Pittsburgh works) and the Pittsburgh Technology Center (J&L’s South Oakland works). Now he’s planning the Lawrenceville Technology Center.


Working on the idea since 2001, RIDC purchased the site in ’02, began planning in ’03, looking for uses that will be compatible with the neighborhood. “The challenge of this site is that it’s right in the middle of a residential community,” Robinson says. “There are emotional as well as physical ties here. So we want to be good neighbors. One goal is to weave the site back into the community – and open the sight lines to the river.”


Neighbors, related perhaps to the adjacent CMU robotics facility, spin-offs “ready to move into their own digs,” Robinson says. Neighbors, like the new Children’s Hospital up the hill on Penn Avenue, “ready to produce the next step in bio-engineering – clean, high-end, advanced manufacturing.”


Yes, that Children’s Hospital, says Joe Edelstein, with its 3,500 employees and incalculable visitors. “What an incredible windfall for this neighborhood,” he says, “the cherry on top of the sundae. It’s the single most substantial development on the horizon, one that will have a dynamic impact. It will be incredibly positive.”


Poised to transform Lawrenceville the way that Shadyside and West Penn Hospitals helped transformed Friendship, Children’s may make all the difference to the neighborhood. “Once the hospital opens,” Lee Gross says, “forget about it.”


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Out-of-towners buy into Pittsburgh

By Sam Spatter
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, March 14, 2007


Kevin McDermott of Philadelphia is a full-time college graduate student and an investor in Pittsburgh real estate.
Becoming a landlord in Pittsburgh is something McDermott, 26, and his wife, Joy, never expected.

It came about when they acquired two single-family houses in the Pittsburgh area under a special full-service program offered by Tom Wagner, vice president of operations at Arbors Management Co. in Monroeville.

The McDermotts and a number of other out-of-town investors are being attracted to the Pittsburgh real estate market after reading national publications that claimed real estate is undervalued in Pittsburgh.





"Pittsburgh real estate was given good marks as investments by articles in Fortune magazine and Money magazine, along with a recent report on CNN," said Maureen States, owner-broker of record for Neighborhood Realty Services in the city's Point Breeze area.

When CNNMoney reported Pittsburgh as one of the best cities in which to invest, that brought Aric White and his wife, Denise, from California to Pittsburgh.

"It stated that the real estate in Pittsburgh was roughly 4 percent to 12 percent undervalued, and after visiting Pittsburgh for the Steelers-Chicago Bears game in 2005, we liked what we saw in housing values," White said.

The Whites have purchased a single-family house on Lelia Street in Mt. Washington and a duplex in Carrick, and expect to close by the end of March on a duplex on Southern Avenue in Mt. Washington.

White has arranged for a Coldwell Banker office in Pittsburgh and its agent, Roberta Allen, to handle management and leasing of the units.

"The cost is about $75,000 per property, and my cash flow is very positive," said White, 35, a customer service representative with Toyota in California.

Fortune magazine -- using data from Moody's Economy.com and Fiserv Lending Solutions -- last year said the seven-county Pittsburgh region is the 29th most stable housing market in the nation. That's based on a projected price increase of 3.3 percent for homes to be sold here in 2007 and another 2.8 percent gain in 2008.

Potential investors can review local housing opportunities on the Internet, by clicking on Realtor.com, said States, who also reports similar contacts from out-of-town investors.

"I've been in the (real estate) business since 1979, and I have never seen this much interest in Pittsburgh real estate from out-of-town buyers," States said.

Wagner said, "We are being contacted by potential investors from throughout the nation -- from Florida to California, including New York, New Jersey and areas along the East Coast."

Jeffrey Ackerman and Cynthia Kamin, of CB Richard Ellis/Pittsburgh, a commercial real estate firm, deal with many out-of-town investors on major apartment complexes here.

"Over the last couple of years, we have seen an increase in investors from out-of-town buying apartments here," Ackerman said. "They do so because they claim their return is a little higher, they feel the property is undervalued, and they like the stable market we have."

Ackerman and Kamin send information about apartments available for sale in the local market to investors listed in a national databank his company maintains. Many of those who respond are from the New York-Philadelphia region, but interest is coming from investors in Florida, Texas and California, Ackerman said.

McDermott, who is attending college to obtain graduate degrees in law and in physiology, said he spent a weekend in Pittsburgh with Wagner, before deciding to acquire, under a rent-to-own program, a house on Comrie Avenue in Braddock and one on South 14th Street, Duquesne.

The program offered to the McDermotts and other out-of-town investors by Wagner starts with a list of houses -- including some with more than one unit -- available for purchase. Wagner is president/owner of EQT Investments Inc. in Monroeville.

Once the investor selects a house, Wagner sends a co-worker to the property to determine what needs to be renovated and to estimate cost. Wagner presents these figures to the investor, who may spend a day or weekend in Pittsburgh viewing the properties. If a sale is negotiated, Wagner offers the buyer a one-year mortgage through EQT.

"Once the renovations are completed we obtain a tenant for the property, which we will manage for the owner," he said.

Before the one-year mortgage expires, the owner obtains a new mortgage or pays off the remaining loan.

One example of how this works is a single-family, three-bedroom, one-bath house in North Braddock that sold for $12,000. The buyer put $7,000 into it and had a $1,000 down payment. The mortgage was $18,000 at 12 percent interest, Wagner said.

"There is a positive cash flow of $300 monthly, based on a $180 monthly mortgage payment, plus insurance and taxes, and a rent of $600 monthly under the federal Section 8 rental subsidy program," Wagner said.

The success of Wagner's program has helped attract investors, making Pittsburgh an even hotter market as the demand for investments increases.



Sam Spatter can be reached at sspatter@tribweb.com.

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Former Carrie Furnace site to breathe new life

Property in Rankin, Swissvale could see housing, offices, light industry

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

By Ed Blazina, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



More than 20 years after the last steel was poured at the former Carrie Furnace site in Rankin and Swissvale, Allegheny County finally is poised to move ahead with redeveloping nearly 160 acres of riverfront property.

Gov. Ed Rendell announced yesterday the site has been chosen for special Brownfield Action Team assistance, which will help development officials cut through red tape for approvals and move the Monongahela River site to the top of the list for financial help from the state.

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Dennis Davin, the county's economic development director, said the county expects to begin site improvements and infrastructure upgrades this summer and be ready for development proposals early next year.

"We honestly think that next year we will begin to see something happening there," Mr. Davin said. "We should be ready to go out for requests for proposals by the end of the year."

Mr. Davin said being part of the Brownfield Action program should give the county priority for any environmental approvals and financing it needs at the site. Consultants are in the process of identifying water, sewer, utility and road improvements needed at the site.

The county is in the process of finishing environmental work at the site, which was much less extensive than expected. The county had projected $3 million to $5 million in environmental cleanup, but the work will cost less than $1 million.

L. Robert Kimball and Associates also is updating a 2001 report on the types of development that should be considered for the site.

"This is the last large, riverfront piece of property available in Allegheny County," Mr. Davin said. "It's really a nice, flat piece of land that will be good for housing, office space, light industry. We think it has similar qualities to Washington's Landing [a successful mixed-use development on an island in the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh].

"We're going to solve the access to the site and have it ready to go."

Mr. Davin stressed that -- especially with the popular Waterfront retail complex across the river from Carrie Furnace -- there will be no retail component at the new site. "We have enough retail," he said.

The county will take two major steps to make it easier to get to the site. One involves reopening to vehicular traffic a hot metal bridge between The Waterfront and Carrie Furnace that had been used by rail cars to move materials between steel mills on each side of the river.

The other involves building a ramp from the Rankin Bridge to the site, similar to the ramp installed on the Homestead Grays bridge to provide access to The Waterfront site in Munhall, Homestead and West Homestead. The county is working with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to coordinate the project with the Mon-Fayette Expressway, which would come through the area.

The expressway project may be a decade away or more, but Mr. Davin said the Rankin Bridge rehabilitation and ramp should happen in the next few years and could receive financial help from the Turnpike Commission.

Improvements also will begin this summer on South Braddock Avenue, which links the site with the Parkway East.

The county bought 137 acres at the site in August 2005 for $5.75 million from Park Corp., a Cleveland developer that bought the former Homestead Works and Carrie Furnace from USX in the early 1980s.

About 20 acres where the remaining Carrie Furnace and other steel buildings are located have been set aside while the Steel Heritage Corp. tries to raise upwards of $80 million for a steel history museum. If it moves ahead, that project would work well with other development at the site, Mr. Davin said.

While the county has been working to prepare the riverfront site, it also has been making improvements in the surrounding communities of Braddock, Rankin and Swissvale to improve housing, raze dilapidated buildings and improve roads.

Braddock and Rankin are among the poorest communities in the county and have been in the state program for financially distressed municipalities for more than 10 years. The county hopes that improving the communities will make the riverfront land more attractive to developers.

Development can't come soon enough for Braddock Councilman Jesse Brown, who served from 1982-92 and again beginning in 2000. Redeveloping Carrie Furnace was an issue during his first term.

"We really thought nothing would happen there," Mr. Brown said. "There's been a lot of movement recently. Now I think the Carrie Furnace site is going to be a lift to the whole area."


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(Ed Blazina can be reached at eblazina@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1470. )

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Jubilant team, officials unveil details of new arena deal

Big win for Penguins

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It took him eight years, but Mario Lemieux finally has his new arena. And it took a secret trip to south Jersey to get it.

Only eight days after the Penguins threatened to relocate, Mr. Lemieux, co-owner Ron Burkle and state and local leaders formally signed off on a deal to build a $290 million arena that will keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh for at least the next 30 years.

It was yet another big win for Mr. Lemieux in a career filled with them. But this one proved to be as tough as any of them, with the fate of the franchise hanging in the balance, until a clandestine meeting last Thursday at a hotel in New Jersey produced the breakthrough.

Yesterday, in the afterglow of a deal he had fought years to complete, Mr. Lemieux said he was glad to get it behind him, describing the process as long and "draining."

"I've said many times that my goal was to keep the Penguins here forever and eventually win the Stanley Cup. We have one out of the two. It's a good start," he said during a news conference at the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center to announce the agreement.

With an arena deal nailed down, Mr. Lemieux said he and Mr. Burkle have no intention of selling the team.

"We went through a lot the last few years and we see that the team is turning around and we want to be part of it," he said. "Ron wants to be part of it, the ownership group wants to be part of it, and I want to be part of it."

Yesterday's announcement at the Heinz Center had a celebration feel to it. National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman attended, along with Gov. Ed Rendell, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, all principals in the talks.

While the key elements of the deal finally fell into place during last week's meeting in south Jersey -- reporters were told the talks would be in Philadelphia -- the governor said a big assist goes to the Penguins fans who have sold out and rocked Mellon Arena and rallied behind a young team with a promising future.

Mr. Rendell said the fanatical support gave state and local leaders some leverage in the negotiations, even as Kansas City tantalized the Penguins with a sweetheart deal that included no rent or construction costs and 75 percent of the revenues at the new $276 million Sprint Center.

"In the last analysis, Kansas City and other cities might have given the Penguins better financial deals, but no one could guarantee the Penguins the strength, the loyalty and support Pittsburgh fans have offered them over the years," he said.

Mr. Lemieux announced the agreement to fans attending last night's game at Mellon Arena, saying to cheers that the Penguins are staying "right here in Pittsburgh where they belong."

The agreement to build the new arena, to be ready before or during the 2009 season, came after Mr. Lemieux and Mr. Burkle declared an impasse in the talks and said they would "aggressively explore" relocation. The team then took a trip to Las Vegas and received the sweetened offer from Kansas City.

Asked if he were prepared to move the team, Mr. Lemieux replied, "My goal was always to keep it here. Of course, we had to go out and look at other options when the negotiations weren't going so well, but at the end of the day, I think we all agreed this team really belongs in Pittsburgh."

The arena will be financed through a $290 million state bond issue. The Penguins will supply $4.2 million a year for 30 years toward repayment, with $400,000 annually generated through a parking surcharge once the new arena opens.

Another $15 million a year for 30 years will come from two gambling-related pots -- $7.5 million annually from Pittsburgh casino winner Don Barden and $7.5 million a year from a slots-financed state economic development fund.

The Penguins' total is $200,000 more than Mr. Rendell originally proposed last year in his Plan B funding formula. The $7.5 million from the state fund is $500,000 more than initially offered.

Mr. Rendell said the state also would kick in another $10.5 million in recognition of delays the team suffered while it was negotiating for a new arena. Of that, $8.5 million will go toward construction and $2 million for marketing.

The Penguins also will receive $8.5 million for the sale of the team-owned former St. Francis Central Hospital to the Allegheny County-city Sports & Exhibition Authority, which is part of the site needed for the arena. The team bought the property for $8 million.

The agreement that ended Mr. Lemieux's long quest for an arena finally came together last Thursday, during a crucial round of talks mediated by Mr. Bettman, who won praise from both sides for his role.

Mr. Rendell said two key sticking points going into the make-or-break session were how to find the last $1.2 million a year needed for debt service payments on a $290 million bond issue and development rights to Mellon Arena property once the building is demolished.

The state had added $500,000 from the state economic development fund to help close the gap.

The other $700,000 fell into place Thursday. The team agreed to pay $200,000 a year under an arrangement with the Sports & Exhibition Authority. In return for those payments, the Penguins will be able to use the Mellon Arena site for parking and future development.

Mr. Burkle, a California billionaire, was instrumental in finding the rest, suggesting that falling interest rates could close the remaining $500,000 gap, a point that proved to be true.

Because of that, "It is important to lock in this deal as quickly as possible," Mr. Rendell said, adding the team had balked at a proposed $1 ticket surcharge for non-hockey events to raise more money.

And when the two sides agreed on language regarding development rights for the Mellon Arena property, a roadblock throughout the talks, the deal was all but done.

The language was important because team officials were worried about committing $4.2 million a year toward an arena if there were no guarantees they would get money back from building revenues, parking, and development.

Adding to the complexity was that as the Mellon Arena site and a parking lot above were developed, the Penguins would lose parking spaces and the lucrative revenue that goes with it.

One way the two sides found resolution was by allowing for a $15 million credit to the Penguins through the SEA. The credit can be applied against land costs and to make up for some of the lost parking revenue.

Under the deal, the Penguins will control development rights to the arena land, although they may still offer casino winner Don Barden a chance to participate. Originally, state and local leaders wanted the team and Mr. Barden to share those rights.

The Penguins also will get all parking revenue; Mr. Barden will not share in that, as initially proposed. They also can recoup some lost parking revenue if they follow through with plans for a parking garage next to the new arena. The team has pledged $500,000 a year toward the garage.

The team also will receive all revenues from the new arena, a lucrative pot of money that could be worth tens of millions of dollars a year. Mr. Lemieux said the access to such revenue would allow the team to compete and retain much of its young talent.

As part of the agreement on development rights, the Penguins must redevelop 2.8 acres of the 28-acre Mellon Arena site each year. Whatever they do not develop will be forfeited to the SEA, which then would have the right to seek other developers.

In his appearances yesterday, Mr. Rendell credited anticipated revenue from the state's casinos for keeping the Penguins in Pittsburgh.

"Make no mistake about it. Without expanded gaming in Pennsylvania, the Penguins would be gone. The first puck would have dropped next year in Kansas City," he said.


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(Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262. )

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A timeline on the new arena deal

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

In the nearly eight years since Mario Lemieux bought the Pittsburgh Penguins, the team has been through a handful of proposals and many starts and stops in its efforts to finance a replacement for Mellon Arena. Here are some of the notable events that occurred along the way to yesterday's announcement that a deal has been reached:


Oct. 13, 1998 -- Penguins owner Roger Marino files for bankruptcy protection with U.S. District Court. The deal includes a clause that says elected officials will "endeavor to complete a financing and development plan" for a new arena by June 30, 2002.

Sept. 3, 1999 -- Bankruptcy Court approves sale to a group headed by former Penguins star Mario Lemieux after months of contentious negotiations.

Nov. 21, 2000 -- Penguins buy the former St. Francis Central Hospital for $8 million as a possible site for a new arena.

March 11, 2002 -- Penguins propose a $500 million office, housing and retail development adjacent to proposed new arena.

July 31, 2002 -- Sports & Exhibition Authority unveils a $270 million plan to build a new arena by the fall of 2006, but elected officials react coolly because they say they don't have money to contribute to the project.

Oct. 3, 2003 -- Penguins put hospital property up for sale because of the lack of progress toward a new arena and the property is too expensive to maintain.

March 24, 2004 -- Los Angeles-based Sports Finance & Management Group proposes privately funded arena, but Penguins are cool to the idea because they want to control the facility.

Dec. 10, 2005 -- Citing lack of progress on talks for a new arena, Lemieux says there's a "slim chance" the Penguins would remain in Pittsburgh after the team's lease expires in June 2007.

Dec. 21, 2005 -- Penguins announce they have an agreement with casino operator Isle of Capri Inc. to operate a slots casino next to a new arena, which Isle of Capri agreed to pay for at a cost of $270 million.

Jan. 18, 2006 -- Mr. Lemieux announces the team is for sale.

March 30, 2006 -- Gov. Ed Rendell announces an alternate plan to finance a new arena if the Penguins and Isle of Capri don't win the Pittsburgh slots license, but the Penguins say the casino plan would be better and, because of the team's contract with Isle of Capri, it can't even talk about any alternative.

Oct. 5, 2006 -- Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie reaches agreement to buy the Penguins for $175 million and says a new arena is key to their future success.

Dec. 15, 2006 -- Mr. Balsillie drops his bid to buy the Penguins after the National Hockey League says the team would be required to stay in Pittsburgh.

Dec. 20, 2006 -- State awards slots license to Detroit businessman Don Barden, who agrees to pay $7.5 million a year to help finance a new arena.

Dec. 22, 2006 -- Mr. Lemieux announces the team is no longer for sale, but he will entertain offers to move to another city.

Jan. 4, 2007 -- After a meeting with city, county and state officials, Penguins say they are optimistic a deal for a new arena can be done quickly.

March 5, 2007 -- Frustrated by a lack of progress in arena talks, the Penguins declare an impasse and say they will actively shop the team to other cities.

March 8, 2007 -- Following a hastily arranged meeting near Philadelphia, public officials and the Penguins say they have made "substantial progress" on an arena deal.

March 13, 2007 -- Penguins and public officials announce they have reached an agreement to build an arena for $290 million that's scheduled to open in October 2009.

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Cost overruns plague N.J. arena deal

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



It's not easy to compare the complex deals under which arenas are built, and Pittsburgh's is particularly unusual because of the involvement of gambling money.

But if there's an arena package that most closely resembles the one announced yesterday by the Penguins and elected officials, it's probably the one the New Jersey Devils got. That's both good news and bad news.

In Newark, like Pittsburgh, local tax dollars aren't going into Prudential Center, which is still under construction. The public contribution is capped at $275 million, and it's being covered by the New York-New Jersey Port Authority. That's good news.

The bad news is that the facility blew through initial cost estimates and is now expected to cost around $375 million. There, the team covers the overruns, whereas here the state is on the hook for up to $10 million in unforeseen costs.

Newark's experience suggests that the state could end up having to make good on that, said sports finance consultant Marc Ganis, who worked as a consultant to team owners on the Devils deal. In the Penguins' arena arrangement, the state and the team split any costs above $290 million but below $310 million, after which the team is responsible.

"If there was an over-and-under [betting line] on the $310 million, I would take the over," Mr. Ganis said yesterday.

Each recent arena deal is unique, said National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman. They're "very complicated, with lots of issues, lots of parties interested."

For instance, in Columbus, Ohio, neither the team nor the public had to pay arena construction costs. Nationwide Insurance and the publisher of the Columbus Dispatch newspaper covered the bill.

But the city granted a tax abatement to what would otherwise be a taxable facility, and borrowed money for roads and other infrastructure. The team makes an undisclosed rent payment to the building's private owners.

At the other extreme is Dallas, where the public and two teams made similar payments on a $420 million facility.

The Penguins deal "is probably the best that the public sector could've gotten, and it's probably close to the best the team could've gotten," said Mr. Ganis.

How could both the team and the public get a decent deal?

The unique feature here is the coming of slot machine gambling, and the agreement by PITG Gaming LLC to contribute $7.5 million a year from the take on a planned North Shore casino.

That's nearly 40 percent of the annual debt payment that neither the team nor the taxpayers have to cover.

"You have this third party that you can shove some costs off on," said Neil deMause, co-author of "Field of Schemes," a book that questions the public financing of stadiums.

The Penguins' share of 20 percent of annual debt service is "fairly standard for a lot of these deals, which doesn't necessarily mean it's good," he said.

Given an aggressive timetable, which could have the arena open in the fall of 2009, it could be hard to keep costs below the hoped-for $290 million, he said.

And, though the city isn't contributing tax dollars to the new arena's construction, it would have to pay the Penguins if the amusement tax were raised during the planned 30-year term of the team's lease.

A clause in the agreement says that if the city raises its 5 percent amusement tax on ticket prices it has to ensure that the team's payment doesn't increase.

The city and related agencies also may be involved in covering infrastructure costs, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said. But much of the bill for roads and other improvements could be covered by payments the team will make for land around the new arena, which it will be encouraged to develop.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Rich Lord can be reached at rlord@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1542. )

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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07073/769281-61.stm

Penguins have had designs on new arena for a number of weeks

Team has been working quietly with architect involved with building PNC Park and Heinz Field

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

By Robert Dvorchak, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



While the Penguins declared publicly that they were aggressively pursuing all options in other cities for a new arena, they were working behind the scenes with HOK Sports Inc. for the past six weeks on moving ahead with the design of the one that will be built here.

"Quietly, I might add," said team president Ken Sawyer.

The Penguins have not yet officially retained HOK, the nationally renowned firm that was the architect for PNC Park and Heinz Field, but they have been working with HOK for the past 61/2 years while arena talks were ongoing.

In 2001, HOK did an $80,000 study, paid for by the team, which determined that it would be more feasible to build a new building than to refurbish Mellon Arena. It is unclear what the time frame will be for selecting a project architect, but the Penguins want to begin work as quickly as possible.

There are artist renderings of what the new arena will look like from the outside. And after years of labor pains in acquiring funding, everyone wants to know what the baby will look like inside and outside.

What is known is that an 18,000-seat arena will be built slightly to the south of Mellon Arena in a footprint bordered by Centre Avenue, Fifth Avenue and Washington Place. Epiphany Church, one of several historic buildings in the grid, would not be affected but other buildings could be.

The new arena will have two entrances to a common concourse, and there will be improved sight lines for ticket-holders, more open spaces and open views that will allow fans to keep in touch with the action if they leave their seats to visit concession stands.

Meanwhile, the 28-acre site around Mellon Arena is planned for urban development.

Under the term sheet signed yesterday, the Penguins will receive a $15 million incentive from the city and county to develop the site over the next 10 years.

In the past several years, plans have been discussed about revitalizing the Fifth Avenue corridor to create shops and office buildings.

Development would also reconnect the Hill District to Downtown, and city and county officials will speak with neighborhood leaders this morning about their input on celebrating and recapturing the culture of the neighborhood.

"What we're talking about here is actually rebuilding a part of the city," said Don Carter, president of Urban Design Associates, which has been working with the Penguins.

"It's an opportunity to rebuild a piece of the city that kind of went away."

Mr. Carter has called the 28 acres one of the greatest development sites in the United States because it is near public transportation and adjacent to Downtown.

Some proposals for the site include rental housing, single-family homes, shops, a hotel, restaurants, parking garages and one or two city parks.

County Chief Executive Dan Onorato said development would be based on work being done between PNC Park and Heinz Field because planners learned their lessons from Three Rivers Stadium, where development never occurred.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Robert Dvorchak can be reached at bdvorchak@post-gazette.com or at 412-263-1959. )




....


here's the Pittsburgh arena renderings HOK did a few years ago for the Penguins

http://www.hoksve.com/sport/projects/3EE1AA30-1668-49D3-8715-1322EC0750B4/projimages/mouseover1_1.jpg

http://www.hoksve.com/sport/projects/3EE1AA30-1668-49D3-8715-1322EC0750B4/projimages/mouseover1_2.jpg

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this article has some interesting details on the final meeting that led to the agreement


http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/penguins/s_497572.html

Pens, officials strike arena deal to keep team in 'Burgh

By Andrew Conte
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, March 14, 2007


Penguins co-owner Ron Burkle said Tuesday that Kansas City probably offered a better deal, but agreements over cost overruns, redevelopment rights and a heftier price tag for a new arena kept the National Hockey League franchise in Pittsburgh.
Tense negotiations ended last week with handshakes after a secret, four-hour meeting at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Cherry Hill, N.J., arranged by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Gov. Ed Rendell.

The deal, finalized yesterday, concludes 10 weeks of sometimes acrimonious discussions, threats to leave and pleas by distraught fans.

Team and public officials signed a 30-year deal to build a $290 million arena Uptown to replace 46-year-old Mellon Arena, the oldest venue in professional hockey. The two sides hope to reach a lease agreement within 30 days, Rendell said.





"At the end of the day, if you have a good deal and a fair deal, we would rather stay here and be here where the fans are," Burkle said after a news conference.

The negotiations almost collapsed last week over the price tag, cost overruns and development rights, Rendell said. Burkle and co-owner Mario Lemieux announced publicly their plans to look elsewhere because they feared time was running out. The team's lease at Mellon Arena expires June 30.

Burkle, a California billionaire, said team officials had put off serious discussions with other cities until the impasse. They began to worry they had lost a bargaining chip in getting Rendell, county Chief Executive Dan Onorato and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl to agree on more favorable terms.

That led Burkle to visit Las Vegas and reopen discussions with AEG, the operator of the new Sprint Center in Kansas City.

"Things started dragging out and then we kinda lost faith that we were going to get a deal done because we didn't feel like there was any motivation to get something done," Burkle said. "So we had to face reality.... We had to go out and get busy and figure out what our alternatives were."

The team owners had convinced Rendell to agree on a higher price for the arena -- at least $290 million, and not the $270 million the governor and city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority wanted, Rendell said.

But then the two sides had to find an extra $1.2 million a year in debt payments. The state offered another $500,000 a year, bringing its portion to $7.5 million a year for 30 years from an economic development fund backed with gambling money.

Detroit-based Majestic Star Casino had agreed to add $7.5 million a year for 30 years, and both sides had agreed not to ask owner Don Barden for more money.

The Penguins agreed they could ante up another $200,000 a year after the sports authority demolishes Mellon Arena, turns it into a parking lot and allows the team to collect the revenue. That brought the team's contribution to $3.8 million a year.

When that left the negotiators $500,000 a year short of their goal, Burkle suggested checking whether falling interest rates had lowered the amount needed to make payments.

The rates had fallen, and the numbers worked, Rendell said.

But then the team owners worried that the costs could still come in higher because of rising construction costs.

The two sides agreed to split the difference up to $310 million. The state would contribute its additional money from the Capital Redevelopment Assistance fund, Rendell said.

Beyond that, the Penguins pay for additional cost overruns. That matches the deals offered to the Pirates and Steelers for their new stadiums, the governor said.

Finally, the sports authority and local officials wanted to make sure the Mellon Arena site would be developed once the Penguins move into a new arena for the 2009 season.

The deal calls for the SEA to demolish Mellon Arena as soon as the new building opens. The Penguins will get development rights to the 28-acre parcel, but they have to negotiate with Barden over allowing him to help redevelop the site.

The contract requires the Penguins to develop at least 2.8 acres a year for 10 years or lose the development rights.

In the end, the agreement differs in some details from the so-called Plan B offered by Rendell a year ago. Plan B called for the Penguins to pay $8.5 million up front and $2.9 million a year, while forgoing $1.16 million a year in naming rights. The final deal forgoes the up-front money but requires similar annual payments from the Penguins.

Ultimately, the deal came together over cold cuts Thursday night at the Crowne Plaza -- across the river from Philadelphia city hall, where reporters had gathered.

Sitting down at a square table with the team owners on one side and the public officials on the other, NHL Commissioner Bettman opened with sobering instructions.

"This has been a long process," he said. "Let's look forward and not look back."

Privately, Bettman had confided to fellow NHL officials that he saw his role as a central-line conductor that had to guide two lost trains back toward the tracks. Those tracks, he said, were direct routes to Pittsburgh, not Kansas City.

"We've always felt strongly about this market," Bettman said.

The two sides left that night with a handshake agreement to write up the details and take the next 48 hours to reach a final agreement. One public clue about the impending deal was Burkle's presence in the owner's box during the Penguins game Saturday afternoon against the New York Rangers.

Officials in Kansas City had expected to talk with Burkle in Los Angeles over the weekend. He did not make the trip.

"Tonight, I'm proud to announce that your Pittsburgh Penguins will remain right here in Pittsburgh, right where they belong," Lemieux told cheering fans last night. "Thank you, Pittsburgh. Have a great night."

Asked earlier whether he plans to try again to sell the team, as he nearly did twice last year, Lemieux said, "The team is not on the market, and we don't plan to put the team on the market anytime soon."

The moment capped a roller coaster ride for fans in recent months as the team owners and public officials seemed close to agreements and then further away.

Bringing his 6-year-old son, Austin, to his first game last night, Mike Secrist said he felt relieved about the team's future.

"I understand the political wrangling, but there are a lot of benefits to an arena," said Secrist, 34, an IT programmer from Monroeville. "There's not a whole lot going on Downtown. You want an arena to be around when you have a 6-year-old."

Season-ticket holder Dave Bauer attended the game with his 22-year-old daughter, Katie Bauer. Both wore Penguins jerseys.

"I figured the politicians would find a way to screw it up," said Bauer, 50, of West Mifflin. "I knew it would come down to the Penguins coming up with a serious threat to get the plans moving. I'm just happy they got it done."



Andrew Conte can be reached at aconte@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7835.

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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07073/769413-100.stm

City seeks operator for closed S. Side ice rink

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A South Side ice rink that has sat empty for five years has a shot at new life.

This week, the City of Pittsburgh expects to send out a request for proposals to reopen the Neville Ice Arena.

"I want to keep it youth-oriented," said Councilman Jeff Koch, who has been pushing for the re-use of the 28,000-square-foot facility.

He said he has been approached by people who want to use it for hockey, and others who would turn it into volleyball courts or an indoor dirt bike course. "I would like to make it multi-purpose, ice and then [a manager would] be able to cover it up for volleyball or whatever else."

The city wants to lease or license the arena to a private operator, said city Parks Director Duane Ashley. The deadline for proposals is likely to be April 16, and a $500 deposit is required.

The arena is at the end of 21st Street, in South Side Park. It has a solid concrete floor, and Mr. Koch said he believes the mechanism for cooling it to below freezing still works, though some plumbing has been removed and graffiti mars the steel structure. A new operator would have to perform repairs and pay other costs.

Mr. Koch said reopening the facility would be a plus for the eventual operator and for South Side.

"I think the demand for ice hockey time is at a premium," he said. The arena is in "pretty much an isolated location. It won't disturb anybody. It's got ample enough parking."

A private operator ran the arena as a rink and then as a site for rave parties until 2002. That operator left some $80,000 in unpaid utility bills, which the city has had waived, Mr. Koch said.



...



I really hope it isn't turned into a dirt bike arena...

[BMikeSci]

Arena cost overruns in NJ

I don't think that PGH has the same construction costs as Newark. It's very difficult to get any construction done in the NY area.That's one of the reasons why housing there is so expensive.

[BMikeSci]

Free Appetizers with the Downtown Neighbors Association
Posted on 03.12.07 by Lindsay @ 10:51 am
Every 3rd Thursday the Downtown Neighbors Association gathers for some neighborly conversation. This month join the DNA at the Sonoma Grill. All are welcome to attend. Cash bar, but appetizers will be provided. Even if you don’t live Downtown you are welcome to attend and meet up with some of the great people who do.

Look for John Valentine, he is the executive director of the DNA, and knowledgeable about all things downtown Pittsburgh. I just caught up with him on Friday and learned about some more of the great things that are happening downtown. I have know John for the past 2 years and I think he is one of the best people to talk about why Pittsburgh living is great.

Thursday March 15th, 2007
5:30-8:00pm
Sonoma Grille
947 Penn Avenue

[BMikeSci]

URA approves funding for RiverParc project


By Bonnie Pfister
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, March 9, 2007

The Urban Redevelopment Authority on Thursday took one large and one small step forward on development projects along the Allegheny River.
It passed along $9.3 million in state grants for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's long-discussed RiverParc proposal and decided to explore whether to relocate the city's tow pound.

The URA board of directors unanimously approved the grants for part of a dozen-year project to develop residential, retail, parking, green space and perhaps a hotel on land bounded by Fort Duquesne Boulevard and Penn Avenue, and Seventh and Ninth streets. The grants -- part of $12.3 million Gov. Ed Rendell has promised for the first phase of the estimated $460 million project -- will be used to begin construction on an underground 400-space parking garage and 300 residential units.

Cultural Trust CEO Kevin McMahon said the first phase would employ about 1,000 people, with construction to begin by the end of the year. If more money is forthcoming, the trust hopes eventually to build a public riverfront park constructed, in part, over the Tenth Street bypass. No closure of traffic along Fort Duquesne Boulevard is planned.

The URA also approved an agreement with Apex Realty Advisors of Braddock Hills to study the feasibility of relocating the tow pound and other city offices from the 14-acre riverfront site in the Strip District and redeveloping that land for commercial use.
URA executive director Jerry Dettore said the study, which should be completed in about 60 days, is to review development options for riverfront land located between 29th and 31st streets.

"We as a staff have in mind mixed use, residential and office space," he said. "Maybe some level of retail, but not to compete with the Strip."

The study will look at possible places to relocate the tow pound, as well as the service and repair center for city vehicles that is there now, said URA board member Jim Ferlo, a Democratic state senator representing Highland Park. City Council would have to approve any relocation.

"It's a beautiful site that could easily be developed commercially and residentially, to put it on the tax rolls. But there are a lot of issues to look at," Ferlo said.

The URA board also signed off on architectural and financial plans for the August Wilson Center for African American Culture, Downtown, as well as a new Carnegie Library in the Hill District. City-owned land for each project was conveyed to the developers for $1.

Construction on the $35.9 million Wilson center -- on nearly an acre along Liberty Avenue near Tenth Street -- is to begin in April. It will include a 500-seat theater, exhibition galleries, a music cafe, education center and gift shop.

The new one-story library, at the confluence of Kirkpatrick Street and Centre and Wylie avenues, will feature cafe-style seating, a teen lounge, a children's area and conference rooms. A ceremonial groundbreaking for the $3.15 million building is scheduled for April 19.

Additional information about the RiverParc project is available at www.pgharts.org/cdrd.



Bonnie Pfister can be reached at bpfister@tribweb.com or 412-320-7886

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The URA also approved an agreement with Apex Realty Advisors of Braddock Hills to study the feasibility of relocating the tow pound and other city offices from the 14-acre riverfront site in the Strip District and redeveloping that land for commercial use.
URA executive director Jerry Dettore said the study, which should be completed in about 60 days, is to review development options for riverfront land located between 29th and 31st streets.


Oh please let this happen... that area of the Strip right now is a DEAD ZONE disconnecting Bloomfield/Lawrenceville from Downtown and the vibrant part of the Strip. It has great potential but is currently dominated by "locally undesirable land uses"... the residential conversion of the Pink Building in that area is a first step... now hopefully we can get some of the crap out of that prime central city riverfront location and establish it as an urban neighborhood.

[BMikeSci]

I just picked this up on the antirust blog. I haven't been able to check on its accuracy.

Hilarious Hockey Arena Scenarios.. And the Kansas City Penguins
Just heard on KDKA that Barden might lose the slots license. Then what?
Ha. This is getting fun.
Let's say it goes to Isle of Capri. Does the arena offer still stand? Which arena offer? Isle of Capri's or Plan B? Or is it Plan C?
Even better, say the Station Square deal wins out. Well... KDKA is also reporting that Don Barden does not have an arena payment due until 2009, and that officials are going ahead with construction long before that (of course). And that they plan to get going on it no matter what.
Well let's say they do. And, uh, the Station Square people, sitting happily on their new license, say, "Sorry, no dice." And the arena keeps going up. Can they do that? What recourse do we have if they do?
Where's the $7.5 million come from in 2009 through 2039?
Is there a contingency plan for all of this? I hope so. The appeals of the license were public knowledge when this deal was getting done this past week.
So... Anyone have any answers?
Are the KC Penguins still in play?
March 14, 2007 at 03:02 PM

[themaguffin]

The Pens aren't going anyway and I'm sure we are thinking of the crazy scenarios. there is a reason that Barden won the license, it was clearly the best of the 3 options. The other two losers are being asses about it now.

[BMikeSci]

I couldn't find the kdka story. "Just heard" sounds as though it might be radio or tv. I'll look around more.

[B4burgh]

I've been wondering about the Cultural Trust project. Out of everything happening in Pittsburgh I think this will be the tipping point into bigger and better development. The project will is going to finally make downtown one of the best places to live in the city, and do more than Piatt place or the Fifth Forbes project could ever do. I hope it doesn't fall apart but since when has that ever happened to a Cultural Trust Project!

[Wheelingman04]

The Penquins rule!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Evergrey]

I agree that the Cultural Trust's is the biggest project in Pittsburgh happening now... and in a long time... it's bigger than the arena itself... but we'll have to see just exactly what is planned in conjunction with the arena... the 28 acres the Penquins will develop... and the $300 million or whatever Lower Hill development from Barden...

anyways...


http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_497765.html

Law firm at One Mellon Center has 4 other Downtown locations in mind

By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, March 15, 2007


A major law firm with an office Downtown is nearing the end of its deliberations involving its future office space needs.
By the end of March, Jones Day expects to decide if it will keep its offices at One Mellon Center on Grant Street or move to one of four other Downtown buildings it has under consideration.

The firm is looking for as much as 90,000 square feet of space, making it one of the larger tenants exploring the soft Downtown office market, where the vacancy rate remains at close to 20 percent.

"We're looking at a number of great buildings and have narrowed the field to five," said Roy Powell, a partner at the firm involved with the space search.

Its short-list of alternatives includes two former retail locations -- Millcraft Industries Inc.'s Piatt Place development at the site of the former Lazarus-Macy's department store at Fifth Avenue and Wood Street, and the former Lord & Taylor department store building on Smithfield Street, he said.

Also under consideration is the 32-story Dominion Tower building at 625 Liberty Ave. and the 40-story One PPG Place office building on Stanwix Street.

"They certainly would be a terrific addition to PPG Place. We'd love to have them as a tenant," said Brad Totten, commercial real estate broker with Grubb & Ellis Co., leasing agent for One PPG Place. The 899,000-square-foot building is about 85 percent occupied, Totten said.

"We have been talking to them, and if they choose us, it would be very good," said Lucas Piatt, Millcraft's vice president of real estate. The Washington County developer has about 180,000 square feet of office space to rent at its $65 million office-retail-condominium project.

Jones Day's 110 employees, including about 60 lawyers, occupy three floors at One Mellon Center under a lease due to expire in late 2008.

Any new lease signed by the firm would include room for possible expansion, Powell said. Although there are no specific plans for growth at this time, its goal is to grow 10 percent to 20 percent annually, he said.

"We do have 7-plus lawyers joining us in the fall, and there will be more coming on top of that," he said.

As previously reported, the Cohen & Grigsby law firm is considering space options Downtown.

The firm, whose current lease at the 11 Stanwix St. building expires in 2008, has Piatt Place on its list of prospective choices along with its current location.

The 25-year-old firm has 120 attorneys and 260 employees overall, including about 220 in Pittsburgh. It is looking for as much as 80,000 square feet.



Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.

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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07074/769621-53.stm

3 galleries have made over a city block that was once typical for its stability, continuity

Thursday, March 15, 2007


By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
If Pittsburgh has a sustaining story of neighborhood, it's that many families keep the same house for generations.

In Lawrenceville, the 4700 block of Hatfield Street is a microcosm of a shift that may soon put that claim in the remnant bin with the moniker "Steel City."

Once the epitome of generational continuity, the block has seen about half its properties change hands in the last decade. Well off the beaten path of gallery-strewn Butler Street, three art galleries sprang up on the block a year ago this month.

As Pittsburgh's story continues to change, Lawrenceville may bear the most dramatic witness, with its fading blend of old-country mores and bounty of galleries.

Hatfield is several blocks toward the river from Butler, "the frontier of the frontier," said Kate Trimble, executive director of the Lawrenceville Corp., a neighborhood development nonprofit. "But I see the appeal of Hatfield. It's the industrial edge. It's gritty and authentic."

Hatfield runs from 44th Street to 50th, with the ghost of the Heppenstall steel mill behind it, and the millworker housing still looks like millworker housing.

Dan Tomasovich grew up on the block, worked as a blacksmith at Heppenstall for 30 years and ran Dan's Bar at 4715 Hatfield until 1989. He moved away from Lawrenceville from his residence in the 1960s, when his parents died.

His old bar is one of the block's few vacant properties.

"I still go over there to clear the snow," said Mr. Tomavich, who now lives in Ross. "But the last girl I knew who was born on that street, they buried her seven, eight years ago." Of the art galleries, he said, "I think it's great."

In 2001, David Calfo bought an 8,700-square-foot warehouse that had been empty since the 1960s.

He was making art from the salvaged contents of old buildings in his spare time when he got laid off from a job in restoration construction. It took some guts to open a gallery, he said, "but everyone I know told me, 'Go for it.' "

DNA: a Blue-Collar Gallery is his offering to the neighborhood he has lived in most of his life. "Most people here know me," he said. "I'm a regular guy with a pickup."

Several doors down, Elizabeth Monoian's Hatfield House has an artist-in-residency. It is one of three locations she and her sister, Barbara, operate as an exchange program for artists. The other two are a fishing boat in Alaska and a rent-controlled loft in the East Village of New York City.

A New York transplant, she lives two blocks from her gallery. She finances her art projects with work as a Web designer and teacher.

Photographer Dan Gaser bought a building that had been a rooming house, speakeasy, beer distributor, VCR repair shop and house at the corner of 48th Street almost two years ago. He renovated it into the Trinity Gallery for fine art photography.

Mr. Gaser said a synergy developed among the galleries when they were all planning to open.

"Elizabeth said, 'Why don't we just call ourselves "the Hatfield Street Galleries" and see if we can bring people down from Butler?' "

They opened in tandem and, since, each has opened for the others' receptions. Together they threw a block party last summer to thank the neighbors.

"We all have the same goal: to promote art and this new culture of Pittsburgh," said Mr. Calfo.

Mr. Gaser's reception last Saturday for artists Jayne Osgood and Jesse Sharrard drew 400 people.

Two of them were Kate and Josh Bayer, who moved to the block three years ago after 27 years in Penn Hills.

"It's really cool to walk across the street to an event," said Ms. Bayer.

Josie Bajoras, at 82, is one of the only single-family homeowners left who can claim 40 years on the block. She lives in the home her sister sold her in 1973 and makes cookies for DNA Gallery's openings. She also gives Mr. Calfo household items she doesn't use anymore for his sculpture.

Textile artist Kate Morrison-Bagin said she and her husband, Christian, a Pittsburgh native, "had no clue" they were moving onto a street that would sprout three art galleries. They had lived in New York before moving to Pittsburgh.

They also had no idea their toddler would be one of five on the street. "The old-timers told us there have been no babies for years and years," she said.

Meanwhile, the past lingers in the view behind their house, the ghost of steel.

"We love our view of the Heppenstall plant," she said. "It's probably only a matter of time before UPMC or somebody wants it, but in the meantime, it's very unique and there's nothing else that gives such a sense of place."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Diana Nelson Jones can be reached at djones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1626. )

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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07074/769719-53.stm

Hill District has its say on arena development

Thursday, March 15, 2007

By Ann Belser and Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato had time to eat, sleep and shower before getting to work yesterday on the next big piece of the Penguins deal: redeveloping the 28 acres where the Mellon Arena and its parking lots are now.

Mr. Onorato wasn't flanked by the governor, the mayor and a passel of multimillionaires. Instead, he sat in the conference room of his office with members of the clergy and community leaders from the Hill District to discuss how to redevelop the Hill.

"We wanted to be sure we were included in things from this point forward so there would not be any missteps," said the Rev. Johnnie Monroe, pastor of Grace Memorial Presbyterian Church. "They have the people who are coming with money, but it's our community. We do not want the folks from the outside just coming in making the decisions."

"The next step is getting all the key parties at the same table," said Evan Frazier, the executive director of the Hill House Association. He said there should be a meeting with Pittsburgh and Allegheny County officials, someone from the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority, Don Barden who won the right to develop the Pittsburgh casino and has pledged to help develop the old arena site, and Hill District leaders.

That meeting was originally scheduled to be a conference call, but after the announcement of the deal to build the new arena and keep the team in Pittsburgh, it was changed to a face-to-face in Mr. Onorato's office. The Penguins will have development rights over the Mellon Arena property.

Mr. Onorato said he wants any potential development to restore the grid from the Hill District to Downtown that stops now at the parking lot for Mellon Arena. He said the arena acts like a wall separating the neighborhood from Downtown.

"Once you do that, the Hill District becomes part of Downtown again," he said.

He said he also wants to make sure any momentum achieved by the development of the site is carried up into the neighborhood so the whole community benefits.

Under the deal with state and local leaders, the Penguins will have development rights over the Mellon Arena property as well as any portion of the old St. Francis Central Hospital site that is not used for their new home. Mellon Arena is to be demolished.

The team also is required to negotiate terms for Mr. Barden "to potentially participate in development rights." The Penguins also must work with the sports authority to put together a comprehensive redevelopment plan for the Mellon Arena site.

As part of the arena agreement, the team has the ability to assign those rights to another party. The Steelers and the Pirates hired Continental Real Estates Co. of Columbus, Ohio, to develop the land between Heinz Field and PNC Park.

One developer the Penguins may pursue is Nationwide Realty Investors, the company that developed the $540 million Arena District in Columbus with a mix of offices, bars, restaurants and housing. That district is anchored by the $160 million Nationwide Arena.

Nationwide Realty Investors is no stranger to Pittsburgh. It was part of the bid by Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. for the city's slot machine license, with a proposal to redevelop the Mellon Arena property with offices, residences and entertainment and to reconnect the Hill with Downtown.

It lost out on that chance when the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board selected Mr. Barden's PITG Gaming LLC over Isle of Capri and Forest City Enterprises Inc. But it could end up back in the picture now that the Penguins have control over development rights.

The Penguins are obligated to begin development after Mellon Arena is demolished and the authority clears the site. If the site ends up being 28 acres, the Penguins must develop 2.8 acres a year or risk forfeiting their rights to any portion that isn't developed.

The team will be required to pay the authority the appraised value for the property, but can take $15 million in credits against the purchase. It also will get the proceeds of land sales it or the authority makes to third parties. After 10 years, if the Penguins have not taken all $15 million in credits, the authority must pay the difference in cash.

At the same time, the Penguins probably won't have to wait until they move into their new home in 2009 to start getting more cash from concessions, parking and other arena revenue streams.

On June 30, the team plans to exercise an option to become master leaseholder at Mellon Arena. With the change, it will get to keep all building and parking revenues, money it now shares with SMG, which has served as leaseholder since 1991. The Penguins also will be responsible for all operating costs.

The team got the option as part of its 1999 bankruptcy. If the Penguins make the change, SMG would become the arena manager and would be paid a set fee.

Under their current arrangement, the team gets all hockey-related revenue and SMG keeps all non-hockey revenues, said Hank Abate, vice president of arenas of SMG. The two parties now share parking revenues, which are estimated at more than $2 million a year, according to some sources. As part of the deal to build the $290 million arena, the Penguins will manage, operate, maintain and retain all revenues from current and future parking at Mellon Arena.

Just how much more the Penguins can earn by keeping all Mellon Arena revenues is not known. Mr. Abate said the change "will probably improve their situation slightly," but declined to release any figures.

Marc Ganis, a Chicago-based sports finance consultant, said Mellon Arena could generate "low to mid single digit millions" annually for the team once it becomes the master leaseholder.

But he added the real money won't come until the Penguins move into the new arena, at which point the annual profit "should approach eight figures, maybe a couple clicks higher or a couple of clicks lower."

"It should be quite substantial, but they wouldn't be doing this deal if it wasn't," he said.

That should give the team millions of dollars more in revenue each year to help pay players. Penguins co-owner Mario Lemieux said during the announcement of the deal Tuesday that the new arena should allow the team to stay competitive and keep many of its talented young players.

As part of its arrangement with the Penguins, SMG will remain as arena manager until at least 2012, even after the opening the new building. Mr. Abate said the firm would like to extend the relationship beyond that.

"I think we can be of significance to the Penguins in terms of not only operating the new facility for them but also in maximizing the new bookings," he said, adding that SMG manages more than 70 arenas worldwide.

The deal between the Penguins and state and local leaders calls for the arena to be built by the fall of 2009, which Mr. Onorato called "a very tight timeline."

He said he expected demolition of the structures that are currently on the site to begin in a month, and that construction of the new arena could begin as soon as summer or fall.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Ann Belser can be reached at abelser@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1699. Mark Belko can be reached at mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262. )

[Evergrey]

i'm as preservation-minded as anyone... but please... just tear this old relic down!

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/penguins/s_497791.html

Hill seeks rink-side seat on arena plans

By Andrew Conte
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, March 15, 2007


State Rep. Jake Wheatley has no love for Mellon Arena, but he's upset local officials made plans to demolish it without asking him or other nearby residents.
The deal for a new Uptown arena requires the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority to tear down the 46-year-old building as soon as the new one opens. The site will be turned into a temporary parking lot so the Penguins can make more money to contribute toward the arena.

"As a community, we agreed we want to go through a process to determine what we deem historical, cultural or not," said Wheatley, a Hill District Democrat. "I don't necessarily see that as a cultural, historic building ... but I'm not the only one with a say in this process."

Wheatley and other community leaders talked Wednesday morning with Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato about redevelopment plans for the Lower Hill District. Now that the Penguins have a deal for a new arena between Centre and Fifth avenues, the discussion has started about what to do with the land under the old building in the long run.





Onorato said representatives from his office, the Mayor's Office, the Penguins and the SEA would form a "working group" with community leaders from the Hill District to discuss development. Any plan would need approval from the sports authority and the city, he said.

"We have a couple of checks and balances in this process," he said. "There might be differences (of opinion), but you can work through any of those."

The Penguins get the rights to develop the 28-acre Mellon Arena site, but are required to develop at least 2.8 acres a year for 10 years or lose the development rights. The team can sell land and pocket the money, or develop it.

"We plan on having a meeting in the near future with the leaders and members of the Hill community to discuss the development," said David Morehouse, the Penguins' senior consultant.

Preservation Pittsburgh, a historic preservation group, wants to find new uses for Mellon Arena and opposes its demolition, said Executive Director Steven Paul. In 2003, the city Historic Review Commission refused to designate the arena as historic.

"There's all this rhetoric that 'we'll absolutely work with all the stakeholders of the community to come up with the best plan, but we're going to demolish it first,' " Paul said.

Community leaders emerged from yesterday's meeting saying they do not have specific development plans in mind, but want to make sure the community has a say. City leaders leveled the Lower Hill District community in the late 1950s to make way for Mellon Arena.

"The opportunity for us is to have a thoughtful, meaningful redevelopment of the Lower Hill," said Evan Frazier, Hill House Association CEO. "That's if it has the full inclusion of key stakeholders, so we don't find ourselves in a position where history repeats itself and key decisions are made without community involvement."

Melvin Montgomery, 57, a lifelong Hill District resident, said he has no problem with Mellon Arena coming down, as long as its demise leads to long-term job opportunities and the creation of a community-friendly recreation building with pools, exercise equipment and programs for senior citizens.

"Anything that encourages people to interact in a positive manner, I'm all for it," Montgomery said. "I think that's exciting, what's happening for this area."

Others remained exhilarated by the Pens' arena deal, but emphasized the team should use the project as an excuse to get more involved with its neighbors.

"All this time, I've not yet heard of the Penguins doing a single thing for this community," said Jerome Maynor, 63, a Hill District man who'd like to see the development include something for neighborhood children and teenagers.

"This is their home, in the Hill District," he said. "I would like to see the Penguins do something for the community. You have all your events here. Give back."



Andrew Conte can be reached at aconte@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7835.

[BMikeSci]

Here's that KDKA article:

Lawmakers Raise Questions About Barden's Finances

Marty Griffin
Reporting

(KDKA) PITTSBURGH There is new controversy over the deal to keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh, but it is not about the arena.

It is about the city's slots casino that could partially fund the new facility and concerns that casino owner Don Barden could go bankrupt.

State lawmakers are the ones raising questions about Barden's finances.

State Senator Jane Orie told KDKA Investigator Marty Griffin that she believes there is a strong likelihood that what she describes as Don Barden's "serious financial problems" will prevent the State Supreme Court from allowing Barden to move forward with building the Pittsburgh slots facility on the North Shore.

Barden's people call the statement "ridiculous, absurd and a character assassination".

They say he has all the money he needs and then some to build and run the Majestic Star.

Public Relations expert Bob Oltmanns spent the day answering questions about Don Barden, the man he works for.

Oltmanns is very angry about it.

"These are nothing more than allegations that are being put forth by an unsuccessful applicant… pulling out all the stops to try to influence the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and discredit Don Barden," said Oltmanns.

The allegations he refers first came to light in a Station Square Gaming petition to the state Supreme Court.

A statement from them alleges "PITG is financially unstable, vulnerable to default and has no history of a stable or growing operating experience... facts which alone disqualify it as eligible for a license."

The 19-page petition claims Barden's Majestic Star company lost income in three of the last five years, had its long-term debt downgraded by Moodys Investor Services, which gave the Majestic Star a "significant vulnerability to default or bankruptcy."

"He is hardly broke," said Oltmanns. "We have a commitment from an investment banker in New York of $450 million to build and operate the Majestic Star Casino in Pittsburgh and nothing is going to stop that from happening."

Barden's people say it's a done deal and so does Governor Ed Rendell.

"Given the track record of what gaming has done in the four institutions that are opening if Don Barden needs an influx of additional financing, he'll be able to get it just like that."

Senator Orie is ready to send a letter asking the governor to speak out about what she calls "real financial problems with the current deal" and a strong belief Barden will not be able to build the casino".

Meanwhile, Lehman Brothers, a highly regarded Wall Street firm has called Barden's casino group a best buy for investors and another Wall Street firm has committed nearly $500 million to this deal.

No one knows when the Supreme Court will make its decision on the appeals of Barden's license by the two losers, Harrahs or Isle of Capri.

Team Coverage: KDKA's Jon Delano looks at what Barden's money means to the recently completed arena deal.

[BMikeSci]

So who has the final say here? It wasn't Pittsburgh. Is it the gaming commission still? Or has it gone to some court or legislative body somewhere? If lawmakers are involved now, is it up to them? Wow! The saga continues.

[BMikeSci]

Gaming board seeks $84 million from losing slots applicants

By Justin Vellucci
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, March 15, 2007

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board today launched a legal counter-attack against the two companies that started battling them in court after they failed to win Pittsburgh's sole slots license.
The control board asked the state Supreme Court to force Station Square Gaming and Isle of Capri each to fork over $84.4 million in bonds to cover potential losses the state could suffer during the applicants' appeal process.

"The citizens of the Commonwealth should be outraged through the loss of millions of dollars per month in tax revenues," said Thomas "Tad" Decker, the board's chairman.

Officials with Isle of Capri, which proposed a Hill District casino and a new arena for the Pittsburgh Penguins, could not be reached immediately for comment. A spokesman for Don Barden, whose PITG Gaming was awarded Pittsburgh's license for a North Shore casino, declined to comment.






"I haven't seen the petition and I can only say we'll respond to the court in due course," added Art Stroyd, an attorney for Station Square Gaming, which proposed running a casino on the South Side.
The board also is seeking bonds from other losing applicants in the state. It's asking the courts to require a $138.5 million bond from Riverwalk and a $58 million bond from Pocono Manor.