It was a long time in coming but a Hill District group finally sealed a deal today that uses the new arena construction to drive development in the neighborhood.

Representatives of the One Hill Neighborhood Coalition, the Penguins, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato signed a first-ever community benefits agreement to aid the Hill during a ceremony at Freedom Corner.

The agreement includes $2 million toward development of a neighborhood grocery store, creation of a Hill master plan and development of a resource center to link residents to jobs. It also gives residents first crack at some arena-related jobs.

The agreement was more than a year in the making, but Carl Redwood, One Hill co-chair, and others stressed that it represented a beginning, not an end.

The hard part now will be to use the agreement as a framework to bring needed development to a struggling neighborhood showing some signs of rebirth.

"We realize the struggle is not over. We have a lot more work to do at every level," Mr. Redwood stressed, saying there was open drug trafficking taking place five blocks from today's signing.

"This represents a milestone in the development struggle of the Hill District but it does not represent the end." Officials broke ground last week on the $290 million replacement for Mellon Arena.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.