Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority board on Thursday unanimously approved plans for an entertainment venue and parking garage on the former Civic Arena site in the Lower Hill District.
Their vote clears the way for construction to start.
The $110 million project is slated to built on a 2.6-acre site near PPG Paints Arena.
Tom Link, chief development officer at the URA, said site preparation and excavation should start in July.
The development is slated to include a 4,500-seat entertainment venue, which will be operated by Live Nation. The venue will include 7,600 square feet of commercial space, including URA retail incubator space, and a ballroom.
A six-story parking garage included in the development will have spots for 910 cars, plus 2,430 square feet of street-level commercial space and a 2,600-square-foot public safety facility.
Link said the parking garage is estimated to be complete by October 2024, and the entertainment venue is expected to hold its first ticketed event in January 2026.
The site’s development team — which is being led by the Buccini/Pollin Group and Pittsburgh Arena Real Estate Development, the development arm of the Pittsburgh Penguins — has committed to a $2 surcharge on tickets sold for events at the new entertainment venue.
Proceeds from the ticket surcharge will be directed to the Greater Hill District Neighborhood Reinvestment Fund. The fund is being administered by the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority to provide grants for development projects throughout the Hill District neighborhood.
Officials said the surcharge will be in place for at least 10 years.
The URA’s approval came with several conditions, including the surcharge, a $1.2 million investment in the public safety facility, and fundraising commitments to benefit the Lower Hill District’s Ammon Recreation Center.
R. Daniel Lavelle, who sits on the URA board and represents the Hill District on Pittsburgh City Council, said the conditions the developer has agreed to “are indeed taking place.”
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“This allows for the larger theme (that) the Greater Hill should directly benefit from what is going to happen on the Lower Hill District site,” he said. “We are, indeed, capturing and doing what we said we were going to do.”
Rhea Thomas, in-house special counsel for the Sports and Exhibition Authority, said the SEA board also approved the development with similar conditions Thursday.
The city’s planning commission approved the development in January.
Related:
• $2 ticket surcharge at planned entertainment venue would support Hill District revitalization
• Penguins give part of Lower Hill development site to Bethel AME Church decades after it was displaced by arena project
Julia Felton is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Julia by email at jfelton@triblive.com or via Twitter .
