The Penguins have selected a Denver-based company that has worked on sports facilities from Berlin to Los Angeles to shepherd the new arena to completion and also announced that HOK Sport, which had been working behind the scenes, will be the arena's architect.

ICON Venue Group will oversee the design and construction of the facility and one of its primary tasks will be to keep the project within its tight $290 million budget. The arena will be built between Fifth and Centre avenues, bordering the lower Hill District.

The team announced yesterday that the company will work with HOK, the well-known architectural firm that is shaping the city in a way few others can rival. It designed PNC Park for the Pirates and Heinz Field for the Steelers and now will complete a sports trifecta of sorts with the new home for the Penguins.

"Our previous work with the Pirates and Steelers gives us a strong sense of the history of the region and its sports teams, and we plan to utilize that knowledge with this very special arena project," said Rick Martin, HOK Sport managing senior principal.

Even before the team completed negotiations with state and local leaders to build a new arena, it was working with HOK on the design of the facility. The firm has been involved with the Penguins and plans for the new arena for the past six or so years. It did the preliminary renderings the team has shown many times over the last few years.

Penguins Chief Executive Officer Ken Sawyer said those drawings "clearly are subject to significant change along the way" as the final design progresses.

In addition to designing Heinz Field and PNC Park, HOK also worked with the Penguins on the improvements made to Mellon Arena in the 1990s.

"The fact that they know this marketplace is very helpful," Mr. Sawyer said.

ICON and HOK are working together on the new Prudential Arena in New Jersey, where the Devils will play. They have done so in a number of other projects as well, including the Jobing.com arena in Glendale, Ariz., home to the Phoenix Coyotes, and the Pepsi Center in Denver, where the Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets play.

They also worked together on the new Sprint Center in Kansas City and the new O2 arena in London, a host venue for the 2012 Olympics.

ICON also was involved with Invesco Field at Mile High in Denver, the Staples Center in Los Angeles, O2 World in Berlin, a multipurpose facility to open next year at a site containing the only remaining section of the Berlin Wall, and soccer stadiums in Chicago, Denver, Salt Lake City and Newark, N.J.

It is a joint venture between Anschutz Entertainment Group, the Sprint Center manager that courted the Penguins in the battle over the arena, and Romani Group Inc., a venue development company.

In Pittsburgh, ICON will oversee the construction and serve as the "owner's representative" in the project. It also will help in the selection of a construction manager.

"Basically they have an expertise we don't have," Mr. Sawyer said. "They're there to represent us and to get this arena built so it is the best arena we can have."

He said one big part of ICON's responsibility will be keeping the project within its $290 million budget.

"Their job is to make sure this project gets built on time, on budget and the process is smooth, and to make sure we build the right building," Mr. Sawyer said.

Under the agreement between the team and the state, Allegheny County and city, the construction cost is estimated at $290 million. If the price for the arena ends up higher than that -- anywhere between $290 million and $310 million -- the Penguins and the state would split the extra cost.

The Penguins have agreed, however, to pay any cost overruns above the guaranteed maximum price of $310 million.

Mr. Sawyer said he doubts that the arena construction will start before the end of the year. The Penguins' goal is to be in their new home in the 2009-10 season, but Mr. Sawyer said it is too early to tell whether that will be possible.

"The most important thing is that we build this properly and don't rush unnecessarily," he said.