PNC Park is getting a paint job.

The Pirates will spend $988,084 out of a capital improvement fund overseen by the city-Allegheny County Sports & Exhibition Authority to paint the park's light towers and steel superstructure, much of which is visible to the public. The SEA board approved the reimbursement yesterday.

Pirates spokesman Brian Warecki said the team hopes to complete the work before the start of the 2009 season. The paint will be the same "PNC Park blue" originally used on the facility, which opened in 2001.

The paint not only is aesthetic in nature but protects the steel from corrosion. SEA officials said the current paint job is "in the beginning stages of deterioration." The capital fund tapped by the Pirates is funded through ticket surcharges.

Also yesterday, the SEA board awarded $1.1 million in contracts to install new bearings to upgrade the connections to a pedestrian bridge at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown.

The upgrades were recommended last year in an inspection of the center after the collapse of a section of loading dock floor in another part of the building. The new bearings will allow the bridge connections to expand and contract more easily in response to temperature changes.