Darth Xed
07-01-2002, 01:38 PM
Deadline on hockey arena plan extended
Friday, June 28, 2002
By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
A city-county agency says it needs another month to come up with a public-private financing plan for a new $225 million hockey arena, and the Penguins have agreed to wait.
When Mario Lemieux and his investors bought the team in September 1999, Pittsburgh and Allegheny County officials said they would do their best to draft an arena financing plan by June 30, 2002.
Stephen Leeper, director of the Sports & Exhibition Authority, said yesterday it's been a difficult process and he needs an extension to July 31.
"The issues associated with the development of such a plan are extremely complex and require considerable effort from all parties involved," he said. "Although we have made considerable progress and have proceeded in good faith over the past several months, the [sports authority] does not expect to be able to complete this work by June 30."
Penguins officials said in March they want a $225 million, 18,000-seat arena built on a slope between Centre and Fifth avenues, in the Uptown neighborhood just south of Mellon Arena. City officials haven't explained how the facility would be financed, but the team hopes that most of the money will come from public sources.
Ken Sawyer, president of the Lemieux Group, the investors group headed by team owner Mario Lemieux, said he was "encouraged by the assurances from Steve Leeper that the [sports authority] is working very diligently on a financing plan" and called a delay until July 31 "quite reasonable."
Leeper has declined to say how much money the state, city, county and the Penguins would contribute. The September 1999 agreement calls for "significant private [financial] participation" by the Lemieux Group.
State officials have mentioned a figure of $60 million from the capital budget, and the team is believed to be looking at providing something similar to what the Pirates put into PNC Park, which was $47.7 million.
That would leave more than $100 million to come from the city and county. The Allegheny Regional Asset District, which administers the county's 1 percent sales tax revenue, is being looked at as a possible source.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they came to us," asset district board Chairman Dan Griffin said yesterday. But neither county Chief Executive Jim Roddey nor Mayor Tom Murphy has talked to him about using asset district funds for a new arena. Roddey appoints four of the seven board members and Murphy chooses two others. The seventh member is chosen by the other six.
Sports authority spokesman Greg Yesko refused to speculate whether asset district funding might be used.
Asset district Director David Donahoe said that July 15 is the deadline for requests for funds from the 2003 budget, and that no one from the sports authority has talked to him yet about allocating asset district funds for a new arena. The asset district board will unveil its 2003 budget in early October.
The asset district is already committed to funding for renovations to Mellon Arena through 2018, Donahoe said. This year it is providing $3.2 million.
Friday, June 28, 2002
By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
A city-county agency says it needs another month to come up with a public-private financing plan for a new $225 million hockey arena, and the Penguins have agreed to wait.
When Mario Lemieux and his investors bought the team in September 1999, Pittsburgh and Allegheny County officials said they would do their best to draft an arena financing plan by June 30, 2002.
Stephen Leeper, director of the Sports & Exhibition Authority, said yesterday it's been a difficult process and he needs an extension to July 31.
"The issues associated with the development of such a plan are extremely complex and require considerable effort from all parties involved," he said. "Although we have made considerable progress and have proceeded in good faith over the past several months, the [sports authority] does not expect to be able to complete this work by June 30."
Penguins officials said in March they want a $225 million, 18,000-seat arena built on a slope between Centre and Fifth avenues, in the Uptown neighborhood just south of Mellon Arena. City officials haven't explained how the facility would be financed, but the team hopes that most of the money will come from public sources.
Ken Sawyer, president of the Lemieux Group, the investors group headed by team owner Mario Lemieux, said he was "encouraged by the assurances from Steve Leeper that the [sports authority] is working very diligently on a financing plan" and called a delay until July 31 "quite reasonable."
Leeper has declined to say how much money the state, city, county and the Penguins would contribute. The September 1999 agreement calls for "significant private [financial] participation" by the Lemieux Group.
State officials have mentioned a figure of $60 million from the capital budget, and the team is believed to be looking at providing something similar to what the Pirates put into PNC Park, which was $47.7 million.
That would leave more than $100 million to come from the city and county. The Allegheny Regional Asset District, which administers the county's 1 percent sales tax revenue, is being looked at as a possible source.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they came to us," asset district board Chairman Dan Griffin said yesterday. But neither county Chief Executive Jim Roddey nor Mayor Tom Murphy has talked to him about using asset district funds for a new arena. Roddey appoints four of the seven board members and Murphy chooses two others. The seventh member is chosen by the other six.
Sports authority spokesman Greg Yesko refused to speculate whether asset district funding might be used.
Asset district Director David Donahoe said that July 15 is the deadline for requests for funds from the 2003 budget, and that no one from the sports authority has talked to him yet about allocating asset district funds for a new arena. The asset district board will unveil its 2003 budget in early October.
The asset district is already committed to funding for renovations to Mellon Arena through 2018, Donahoe said. This year it is providing $3.2 million.