Are The Curtains Closing on the Curtain Call?
The Community Must Say No!
On June 13th, the Penguins presented their plans to subdivide the Lower Hill’s Block E into two separate projects to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) Board. But an important question remains: What about the promised community benefits?
Last year, the Hill CDC secured several commitments from the City, URA, Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Buccini Pollin Group (BPG), the previous developers for all of Block E. Their plan included a proposed concert venue, new public safety space, retail for small Black-owned businesses, and a 900+ space parking garage. However, now that the project has been split into two parcels and will be completed by two different developers, it leaves a question about the status of a portion of hard-won community benefits – such as the Curtain Call public art and stormwater project. Although Curtain Call is on a different site of the Lower Hill (Block A2), it was promised to be delivered as a benefit for Block E.
Walter Hood designed the Curtain Call Project. Hood is a prized landscape architect whose work has been featured in the Copper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, he is also a MacArthur Fellow and recipient of the Architectural League’s highest honor of President’s Medal. Photo Credit: Diablo Magazine. Site rendering of Curtain Call project in front of the arena courtesy of the SEA (Sports & Exhibition Authority).
First unveiled in 2009 by the internationally renowned Walter Hood Design Studio, this project was to be a beacon of sustainability and solidarity located immediately outside of the new arena for thousands of fans to visit before entering the stadium. The goals of the Curtain Call were to retain stormwater from the arena and engage every visitor with visual depictions of the history of the Hill District, including the Lower Hill District – the location of both the previous and current arena. Unfortunately, the project never received the promised funding from the Pittsburgh Penguins to make it a reality.
In addition to not providing the promised funding, the project’s location was changed without demonstrable community support and its progression towards construction remains stalled. In January 2023, the Pens revised the entire Lower Hill Preliminary Land Development Plan (PLDP). One of the many changes made to the PLDP without community input was to relocate the Curtain Call installation from in front of the arena to the intersection of Wylie and Crawford Street putting the project closer to the Middle Hill (see below).
This diagram shows the previous location of Curtain Call when it was originally designed near PPG Paints Arena and the new location in Block A2.
According to the negotiated “October 18th, 2019, Term Sheet of Preliminary Conditions” for Block E, signed by the Pens/PAR, URA and SEA, “the Optionee (or its affiliates) shall fill any remaining funding gap as of the date of this Term Sheet.” As such, funding for this project should have been provided by the developers nearly five years ago.
However, the Curtain Call is not the only undelivered community benefit from the Block E Term Sheet. The Pens were also to provide funding to Ammon Recreation Center, have a First Source Hiring Center near the site premises of the development project, and a Black business incubator on the site, in addition to a new public safety facility in the garage portion of the Block E development.
In May of 2023, when the Pens and their affiliates sought final board approval from the URA to begin the acquisition of Block E for $10 per parcel, the Hill CDC advocated that all community benefits be formally included in the URA’s conditions for approval. These agreements had previously been negotiated, clarified, and agreed to by all key parties who convened at the Mayor’s Office just days before.
Even former URA Board Chairman Sam Williamson and URA Executive Director, Susheela Nemani Stanger sought to ensure that community benefits were included in the URA’s land disposition requirements for Block E. However, regarding Curtain Call, the language of the URA’s approval conditions were adverse to the URA and SEA’s legally-binding October 2019 Term Sheet of Preliminary Conditions with the Pens, as well as what was agreed to by key parties at the Mayor’s Office.
All of these parties should seek to clarify for the Pens that they are expected to fulfill their obligations under the October 2019 Term Sheet which legally binds them to secure all funding for the Curtain Call immediately.
This excerpt from the “October 18th, 2019, Term Sheet of Preliminary Conditions” is viewable on the URA’s website on Page 5. CLICK HERE
It is critically important to know that efforts to compel funding for this project are not new. In July 2015, the Post Gazette ran a story entitled “What happened to the planned public art project near Consol Energy Center?” This piece was an exhaustive history of the Curtain Call and its “funding challenges” from 2008 to 2015. The story included statements from the Penguins that later proved to be inaccurate. At that time, a Penguins’ spokesperson stated, “A piece of public art was installed in 2012 – a statue of Penguins’ co-owner and former star Mario Lemieux, but it was paid for by a private donor.”
Four years later, in 2019, when the Curtain Call came back under public scrutiny, this statement was proven false. Pittsburgh City Paper author Charles Rosenblum wrote, “It was funded by a consortium of more than 25 companies affiliated with the arena and the hockey team for an undisclosed cost.”
A critique of the Pittsburgh Penguins, raised then and now by Hill District residents, is that they expeditiously secured funding for public art that depicts their owner, but not the community that had to suffer for their home arena to exist.
The extended funding delays to this project are even highlighted in an audit of the SEA by the City Controller’s Office. It concluded in December 2015 that, “costs were estimated to be $1.5 million, and the construction was recommended to begin as soon as funding was available. Since the selection and designing of Curtain Call, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the SEA have both claimed a lack of available funding for the project.” Records reveal, however, that millions were raised for Curtain Call and a range of other projects, including the statue of Mario Lemieux. Unfortunately, some of the funds previously raised for the Curtain Call have expired due to failure to expend them in a timely fashion.
The current situation begs the questions:
- Why have the URA and the SEA allowed the Penguins to disregard the 2019 term sheet which required complete funding for the Curtain Call project and other community benefits before approving Block E?
- What prompted the Penguins to relocate the project from its agreed-upon location at the arena’s entrance without consulting the community?
- What public agency and or public officials will ensure that the Penguins fulfill their legally binding commitments made to the Hill District in exchange for the rights to this land?
The Curtain Call features images of real Hill District community members whose stories have shaped this neighborhood including the Lower Hill. Residents have waited patiently for too long to see this project completed. The Penguins have been unreasonably, and perhaps intentionally, slow to deliver this project. Without clear enforceable requirements from the URA and SEA, this project will never be completed. Hill District residents have endured 15 years of repeated delays and fallacious excuses. The time is now for our public agencies and elected leaders to say enough is enough.
The Penguins need to pay for the Curtain Call now.
