City Council doesn't save Civic Arena (Pittsburgh: real estate, tenant, high school)

[BrianTH]

Here is the article:

Council won't stop Civic Arena demolition

This is the end of the normal historic designation process as far as the City is concerned, so the only other option at this point would be litigation.

But aside from the fate of the Arena, it still remains to be seen how the site is redeveloped, including what sort of street grid is established.

[gg]

This news was already on the wall. As soon as you hear the top dogs say things like, "it is in great disrepair", or "it will cost too much to fix", the building is already torn down. If you look at any of the old threads you will see, I stated, "torn down" and no stopping it. I have been around the real estate business too long to know there was no way to stop it. Same went with that Syria Mosque. I knew that was toast. Same stuff. Big money has total control and can tear down anything they please.

I hope Schenley High School Building is saved somehow, but they may be trying to slowly create doom for it as well. We love to tear everything down and build something new. Most times it isn't as nice as what was there.

[BrianTH]

We'll never know, but it didn't help that the people who wanted to save it had years to work with, and yet never came up with a reuse plan that made any sense.

[youngabe]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

We'll never know, but it didn't help that the people who wanted to save it had years to work with, and yet never came up with a reuse plan that made any sense.

The last "piece of wood" they "threw on the fire" was that they working with some firm in Toronto and had a very large cultural tenant that wanted to reuse the arena. I'm curious the details on that, but at the time, it was "confidential." Sorry, you need all the ammo and backing you can get, ante up. That group seemed to be a lot of smoke and mirrors for the exact reason you stated--they never had a reuse plan that stood a chance as a viable argument for saving the facility.

[BrianTH]

As far as I know it was something similar to the Pontiac Silverdome deal (same group, at least), which would make no sense at all in this location.

Edit: By the way, this decision is what is sometimes called "overdetermined". You had big money interests in favor of the Penguins' plan, you also had local community leaders in favor of getting rid of the Arena, and you had the preservationists failing to come up with a viable alternative. Any of those factors on its own would provide a sufficient explanation for the result.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by youngabe

...they never had a reuse plan that stood a chance as a viable argument for saving the facility.

That's because there's only so much that can be done with a dome.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

That's because there's only so much that can be done with a dome.

Indeed. That was a structure built to suit a very particular purpose, and when a new building that served the same purpose went up across the street, that was pretty much the end of the issue.

[Herodotus]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Indeed. That was a structure built to suit a very particular purpose, and when a new building that served the same purpose went up across the street, that was pretty much the end of the issue.

It's not unlike Tiger Stadium. People wanted to see it saved, but there was no real use for it. It sat hulking and empty before the inevitable occurred. Some buildings easily lend themselves to adaptive reuse. A huge specialized structure like the Arena does not.

[Copanut]

They should dismantle it and reassemble it out in soulless Cranberry, that would give the place some character.

[gg]

I will be happy when it is over with. I wish they had one hockey game with the roof open, but the powerful people that force all these things knew if they did such a thing people would have realized the potential of the CIVIC Arena. Yes, there was a time that building was for the community believe it or not. It wasn't always Mellon Arena. It is very sad that it couldn't be used for concerts and utilize it the way it was designed by opening it for the people to enjoy something no other city would have. A view of the Pittsburgh skyline while sitting in your seat enjoying a concert.

The created a situation that made the Civic Arena useless by building the other place that really has no real identity. It is just consol energy center. Who care? It isn't a Pittsburgh icon and never will be. Just like any place in any city, but that is very common around here. Wonder how long the convention center will last?

Okay, that is enough venting. The writing has been on the wall for years. As soon as I hear, "disrepair", I knew it was over for the arena.