Mayor William Peduto, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, local elected officials, and officials from the Urban Redevelopment Authority, Sports & Exhibition Authority and the Pittsburgh Penguins announcing the development plans for the Hill District.

Advertisement Mayor Bill Peduto announces agreement to transform former Civic Arena site Plan will also provide millions of dollars for improvements, jobs, housing Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Mayor Bill Peduto and city officials on Tuesday announced an agreement with the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Hill District community to redevelop the former Civic Arena site in the Lower Hill.VIDEO: Watch Shannon Perrine's report"This plan will build transformational wealth for the residents of the greater Hill District," Peduto said. "It provides the financial resources to build the ladders of opportunity between the 28 acres and the rest of the Hill District."PHOTOS: Lower Hill District development announcementThe plan will also provide millions of dollars for improvements, jobs and housing."Fifty years ago the Hill was severed, the heart, the center of our economic vitality, was removed when we destroyed the Lower Hill to build the Civic Arena. We've never recovered from that," said city Councilman Dan Lavelle.Under a new tax increment financing district, property tax growth from the redevelopment of the Lower Hill will be used to also improve six other neighborhoods: the Bluff, Crawford Roberts, Terrace Village, the Middle Hill, Bedford Dwellings and the Upper Hill.Resident Donnell Shields would like to see a pharmacy for his elderly neighbors."We had one on the corner over here. We had one by the barber shop. We had one on that corner and we had one right over here. Now you got to go off the Hill just to get medication," said Shields.Retired police Officer Jesse Bagley wants to see the money help young people."I'd like to see them come together and do something to make it more important for these young folks coming up nowadays,' said Bagley, 88.As part of the deal, the Penguins agreed to pay full market value for all the parcels of land on the 28 acres where the Civic Arena used to stand, and the city will build up the infrastructure needed to get construction on businesses and housing started.