Gale Evans, a lifelong Hill District resident, listens to Travis Williams, chief operating officer of the Pittsburgh Penguins, speak about proposed development of the old Civic Arena Site at a public meeting Oct. 6.
It's too early for Downtown commuters and Pittsburgh Penguins fans to start wondering where they'll park once the former Civic Arena site in the Lower Hill District is fully developed, but that will be a good problem to have.
One of the earliest concerns after the team won the development rights to the parcel was about parking -- specifically, that there'd be too much of it. The Penguins have been using the land as a parking lot, which triggered fears that doing so would prove so lucrative that plans to build there would be scotched.
That never was likely and the prospect is even more remote now that the team's re-use plan is advancing.
Now the worries point in the opposite direction. The proposed construction of new residential, commercial and retail buildings near Consol Energy Center has raised the specter that eventually there won't be enough parking spaces in the neighborhood.
Adjustments will be necessary, of course. Right now, 800 spaces are reserved for UPMC Mercy employees, so other arrangements will need to be made, like those that occurred when Children's Hospital moved from Oakland to Lawrenceville. And game days are likely to be tight, as is true across town when the Pirates play at PNC Park or the Steelers at Heinz Field.
The city's experience on the North Shore should be reassuring for the Lower Hill. When the baseball park and football stadium were new, a sea of parking lots surrounded them. Today, after two decades of gradual development, the vast space has become home to new restaurants, offices, hotels and -- yes -- sufficient parking.
A lot can and will happen in the coming years and, with smart planning by developers and the city, the parking situation won't present an insurmountable challenge.