Hill District residents impatient over 'empty promises' of neighborhood improvement

Marimba Milliones was among the Hill District residents who on Thursday told local leaders they’re getting impatient after years of waiting for investment in their neighborhood.

A major redevelopment is underway in the Lower Hill District at the site of the former Civic Arena. It’s set to include a new Live Nation music venue, as well as retail and parking.

With it came promises of a new public safety center, a long-delayed public art installation and investments in the local recreation center.

But Hill District residents are still waiting to see any of those things come to fruition.

Milliones, president and CEO of the Hill District Community Development Corporation, said the development team at the site — including the Pittsburgh Penguins and Live Nation — have not yet kept their promises to help fund public art, improve the local recreation center, build a public safety facility or otherwise lift up the community.

“You have taxpayers and residents here who are pleading with you over and over,” she told the Urban Redevelopment Authority board during its Thursday meeting.

Milliones and others called on the authority — which oversees development at the site in tandem with the city’s Sports and Exhibition Authority — to hold developers accountable for promises to the community.

“It’s very painful to see what’s going on with the Hill,” said Renee Wilson, 64, of the Hill District. “We’re not asking for a lot.”

Wilson said it’s taking too long to get things done.

“We don’t want the empty promises we’ve gotten forever,” she said.

The project has been in the works for years, with a conceptual development plan earning approval in 2019.

URA officials on Thursday assured frustrated residents that the community benefits they were promised will be guaranteed as part of the development.

City Council President R. Daniel Lavelle, who sits on the URA board and represents the Hill District, acknowledged it’s been a slow process. But as the development moves ahead, he said, so will the community perks — including new jobs and investments.

Those conditions are built into the contract the developers will pen with city authorities to progress with their development, officials said.

The community benefits, Lavelle said, are “contingent on this development moving forward.”

“We are now able to do right by the Hill District and deliver on what we talked about,” he said.

On Thursday, the SEA and URA boards approved a request from the developer to split its live music venue apart from other elements that had once been viewed as a package deal. That includes the parking garage and public safety center.

The new plan is to move ahead with the live music space first, with the parking garage and public safety facility following later.

No specific timetable was given for the second phase of the project, but California-based Live Nation officials in a briefing last month said they hope to start construction on the music venue in the fall. The goal is to open it by early 2026.

The URA board unanimously approved plans to split the development into separate sections, though some community members raised concerns about how events there could impact parking throughout the Hill District if the new parking garage trails behind the event space.

The votes also allow the authorities to officially transfer ownership of the land from the SEA and URA to Pittsburgh Arena Real Estate Redevelopment, the development arm of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“We are ready to move forward with our plans for the new venue which will be a great addition to the neighborhood and bring even more shows to the region,” said Tom Loudermilk, president of Live Nation Pittsburgh. “The venue will honor the Hill District’s history, and we are grateful to members of the community who have shared this history of the neighborhood with our team.”

Loudermilk in a statement the development team is “committed to creating economic opportunities for local residents through construction and venue operations.”

The 4,500-seat entertainment venue will occupy a spot near PPG Paints Arena on Wylie Avenue between Fullerton and Logan Streets. The 98,000-square-foot facility will include commercial space, URA retail incubator space and a ballroom.

The project is estimated to cost about $64 million.

The six-story, 910-space parking garage — which is set to include a public safety center — will be pursued separately.

Craig Dunham, vice president of development for the Penguins, said the development team struggled to finance the parking garage amid rising construction costs.

Live Nation has committed to a $2 surcharge on tickets sold for events at its new venue to support the Greater Hill District Neighborhood Reinvestment Fund, which the URA is using to provide grants for community-driven development projects throughout the neighborhood. The surcharge will be in place for at least 10 years.

The developer also is required to provide financial assistance for a long-delayed public art project called Curtain Call, plus a donation of $900,000 throughout the course of the development project for the Ammon Recreation Center. Other requirements include job training for Hill District residents and a focus on hiring from within the community.