Mellon Arena's destruction is not a foregone conclusion, its owners said Tuesday.
Demolishing the National Hockey League's oldest venue was just one option discussed during the first of seven meetings intended to collect and evaluate ideas for developing the 28-acre Lower Hill District site, with or without the 17,000-seat arena.
Historic preservationists want to reuse the building, perhaps as a park and retail center. The Penguins want to demolish their longtime home and find a developer to create a residential and retail district on Centre Avenue across from the new Consol Energy Center.
"One of the alternatives is to demolish Mellon Arena," said Chris Cieslak, a principal with Chronicle Consulting who works for the Sports & Exhibition Authority, the arena's owner. "It is not a foregone conclusion."
Mary Conturo, the SEA's executive director, declined to speculate whether the Penguins could challenge the SEA in court if it decides to reuse the arena instead of demolishing it.
"If it's a reuse, it's a reuse that would benefit the redevelopment, so I wouldn't expect something like that to happen," she said.
Penguins spokesman Tom McMillan said, "The Penguins believe that the best use of the Mellon Arena site is for the arena to come down and to create a dynamic mixed-use development."
A March 2007 agreement between the SEA and the Penguins, the arena's main tenant, states Mellon Arena would be demolished after completion of Consol Energy Center, which should be finished by mid-July.
Team executives have said removing the arena would free up land near the Downtown business district -- a rare commodity in densely developed cities.
Apartments or retailers could fill the void if an outside developer chooses to invest, team President David Morehouse has said.
Downtown architect Rob Pfaffman wants to reuse the arena as a park, with residential and retail space. He wasn't encouraged when SEA officials said its demolition isn't certain.
"The process obligates them to say that; otherwise it's a sham," he said.
The SEA hired Michael Baker Jr. Inc. of Moon to conduct a historic assessment of the 49-year-old arena. It is eligible to appear on the National Register of Historic Places mainly because of its unique, retractable dome.
Timothy Zinn, an architectural historian with Michael Baker, said his team is following state Historic and Museum Commission guidelines to determine whether demolishing the arena, or reusing it, would adversely affect historic structures or artifacts in the area. It could be six months before Michael Baker makes a recommendation to the SEA and the authority's board decides what to do.
