New music venue coming to former Civic Arena site

PITTSBURGH — A new music venue is coming to Pittsburgh at the former Civic Arena site.

The announcement came Thursday morning from the Pittsburgh Penguins and The Buccini/Pollin Group.

Live Nation Entertainment plans to anchor the 90,000-square-foot live music venue, which will be constructed above an underground 850-space public parking garage at the intersection of Wylie Avenue and Logan Street.

This story was first reported by our Pittsburgh Business Times partners. You can click here to read more from them.

The design will be a “three-in-one” concept, including an enclosed highly amenitized seating area for club and theater performances as well as an adjacent outdoor amphitheater lawn with a up to a 6,600 maximum total capacity. To compare, that’s about 1,000 more people than Stage AE holds.

“There will not be another venue like this in the region, and we expect it will become the entertainment anchor for the Lower Hill, drive significant business to nearby restaurants and contribute to the rich fabric of live music in Pittsburgh,” said David Morehouse, chief executive officer of the Penguins. “Live Nation brings worldwide top-of-class experience, and the ability to adjust and adapt to different sizes of shows, indoor and outdoor, all in a vibrant urban development area, will quickly establish this facility as very unique for Pittsburgh.”

According to a release, the project will also include:

• 17,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space – including more than 1,200 square feet fronting Wylie Avenue for the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Catapult Program that the developers are providing free of charge to the URA to encourage local and minority-owned businesses to grow at the center of the Lower Hill development;

• Up to 34,000 square feet of second and third floor retail space along Wylie Avenue; and

• 285,000 square feet of public parking garage (850 spaces).

Groundbreaking is expected to be this summer, and they anticipate it opening by 2022. The venue will operate over 200 nights a year with shows and corporate events.

“This Live Nation venue and the accompanying parking, retail and commercial space will be yet another exciting development for the Lower Hill,” Morehouse said. “With our recent announcements on advancing the first phase of housing and the construction of the FNB Tower, we have strong momentum on the Lower Hill.”

The venue and garage are expected to cost $123 million.

The Penguins believe it will complement and not compete with other Pittsburgh venues.

This story was first reported by our Pittsburgh Business Times partners. You can click here to read more from them.

For nearly 50 years, the Civic Arena served the city of Pittsburgh. Here is a look back:

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Civic Arena 1961 - Archives of Industrial Society Photograph Collection, University of Pittsburgh.

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