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Panel rejects, 4-3, historic designation

Thursday, August 08, 2002

By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Efforts to save Mellon Arena from the wrecking ball suffered a stunning setback yesterday, when the sharply divided Historic Review Commission voted against giving the 41-year-old hockey rink a city historic designation.

	John DeSantis, chairman of the Historic Review Commission, shows his disappointment yesterday after he was on the losing side of a 4-3 commission vote not to designate Mellon Arena for historic status. (Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette)

Even though the final decision is up to City Council, the groups that had nominated the arena for historic status -- Preservation Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation -- were dismayed by the commission's 4-3 vote not to recommend the designation.

"I'm surprised and disappointed," said Rob Pfaffmann, a local architect and Preservation Pittsburgh's vice president, who had spoken strongly in favor of the nomination.

"I thought this [designation] would be a slam dunk," added Sandra Brown, president of the group. "Votes like this undermine the purpose of having a Historic Review Commission in the first place."

The designation would give the well-known, silver-domed structure special protection from exterior alteration or demolition, which may occur if a new hockey arena is built, as Penguins owner Mario Lemieux wants.

Clearly disappointed also was commission Chairman John DeSantis, who was on the losing side of the 4-3 vote.

He said he thinks Mellon Arena clearly meets several criteria for designating a city structure as historic, including being an example of a significant type of architecture and playing an important role in city history.

	Online graphic: MellonArena: Oldest in NHL

"This one was a no-brainer," DeSantis said. "The arena is one of the best buildings this community produced in the 20th century."

Along with such signature projects from Renaissance I as Point State Park and Mellon Square, the arena "was Pittsburgh's way of saying to the world that we aren't a dirty, backward city anymore."

The ultimate fate of Mellon Arena, which opened in 1961 as the Civic Arena, still isn't known. But its future was called into question in the spring when Lemieux unveiled plans for a new $270 million hockey arena on a site just south of Mellon Arena, between Centre and Fifth avenues.

Pfaffmann said the current arena could be rehabilitated for about $100 million, or far less than the cost of a new one. He said the ice surface could be lowered, creating additional space for the luxury boxes that Lemieux said he needs to generate additional revenue.

Mellon Arena is by far the oldest rink in the National Hockey League. The next-oldest hockey rinks are Madison Square Garden in New York City, which opened in 1968, the New York Islanders' rink, which opened in 1972, and the Edmonton Oilers' rink in Canada, which dates to 1974.

Lemieux said that if his proposed arena is built, he doesn't want Mellon Arena used for concerts, circuses or other events that would compete with the new venue.

Besides calling for a new arena, Penguins officials released a related plan suggesting development of the site in the Lower Hill where Mellon Arena sits. It shows the arena being demolished and the land used for new housing, stores, office buildings, parks and a hotel.

The battle over historic designation for the arena still isn't over, but the city panel's vote against giving the building special status makes the preservationists' job even harder now. A "supermajority" of at least six of the nine council members will now be needed to override the commission's negative recommendation, instead of the usual five-member majority needed for council action, DeSantis said.

Before the arena issue gets to council, another agency, the city Planning Commission, must also make a recommendation on the historic status. That is likely to happen next month or in October, with action by council by the end of the year.

And preservationists, who have suggested reusing Mellon Arena for offices, housing and restaurants, still face a fierce opponent in city Councilman Sala Udin. He lived in the largely black Lower Hill neighborhood in the late 1950s, when the city demolished many houses and other buildings there to make way for the Civic Arena.

Udin wants to demolish Mellon Arena -- its name since 1999 -- and "reconnect" the Lower Hill to Downtown by building new streets as well as houses, stores and other buildings. That's what the neighborhood had in the late 1950s, he said, before city leaders changed the face of the Lower Hill with the silver dome.

The Historic Review Commission's vote came despite a recommendation for historic status from staff member Angelique Bamberg. She said Mellon Arena met four of the 10 criteria in city ordinances for a historic building, including architectural distinctiveness, an association with important cultural events in Pittsburgh, and exemplifying "innovation and overall quality of design."

DeSantis said the building also deserves historic status because it's associated with a "titan" from Pittsburgh's past, department store magnate Edgar Kaufmann, who gave money for the arena project in the 1950s.

But he failed to persuade four of his colleagues. Voting against historic status for the arena were commission members Susan Golomb, the city planning director; Ron Graziano, city Building Inspection Bureau director; William Barron, a local real estate executive; and Howard Graves, a local architect.

Voting for historic status were DeSantis, Tom Schmidt of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and Michael Eversmeyer, a former city historic preservation staffer.

Barron, Golomb and Graziano said they still favor some sort of reuse for the existing arena, but didn't think it deserved "special protection."

In fact, Barron said, "historic designation could impede reuse by imposing restrictions on the building." Graziano agreed.

Historically designated structures can't have their exteriors changed, and can't be demolished, without review commission approval. In many cases, the commission has been reluctant to grant permission to demolish a historic structure.

Graves said the Lower Hill "clearly needs new opportunities. There is a renaissance going on in the Hill District. That can best occur if there is available land."

Tom Barnes can be reached at tbarnes@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1548.