After two weeks of frenetic activity that saw the buy out of the top bidder, theft charges filed then withdrawn by the Allegheny County district attorney and a six-figure claim by a former contractor dismissed by the court, the sale of the August Wilson Center for African American Culture to a consortium of local foundations was nearly complete, but it faced a final challenge before closing as required by the Oct. 31 court deadline—finding all the money.
The $8.49 million sale price, approved by Common Pleas Judge Lawrence O’Toole calls for $7.9 million to be paid to mortgage holder Dollar Bank and $590,000 to be paid to receiver Judith Fitzgerald and her team.
Originally, the Pittsburgh Foundation, the Heinz Endowments and the Richard King Mellon Foundation jointly submitted a losing $5.7 million bid for the building. That was later “sweetened” by the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority adding $1.29 million and Allegheny County adding $1.5 million in unidentified funds.
Those funds were finally identified on Oct. 9 when the URA asked the Regional Asset District to give it the $1.5 million needed to close the sale. During a special Oct. 27 session prior to its public budget hearing, the RAD board voted to approve the grant.
RAD has held more than $500,000 allocations originally intended for the AWC in a “contingency” account since before the center went bankrupt last year. Executive Director David Donahoe said at the time the funds would not be released until a new fiscally responsible board was in place at the AWC.
Though he voted to approve the grant, Board Vice Chair Dan Griffin echoed those sentiments saying he would not vote for additional funding unless a solid business plan is put in place.
“It was a situation where the public had built this,” he said. “And to lose it without giving it a fair chance, I think, would have been a mistake.”
Heinz Endowments President Grant Oliphant said last month that two boards would be assembled to run the Center; one to concentrate on artistic programming, the other on managing the building and its finances. That second entity, however, has yet to be established. In the interim, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust will manage the center.
The board also held a public hearing on its 2015 budget, allowing grantees to thank the board, and ask for more money. The preliminary budget proposes spending a record $93.7 million.
Of that budget total, 73 percent, or just over $68 million, is contractual in nature and must, by law, be spent to support specific assets like county parks, the zoo and aquarium, the Carnegie Museums, and the Carnegie Libraries and the county library system. Another $14.1 million is dedicated to multi-year debt obligations on the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Heinz Field and PNC Park bond issue, and arena debt service.
By comparison, RAD’s proposed discretionary annual grant allocations total just over $10.76 million. Other than a $3 million grant to the Port Authority—a 10 percent match required for $30 million in state funds—the largest grants awarded in that category are $1.1 million each for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and the Pittsburgh Symphony Society. The board will have to trim nearly $1 million to compensate for the Wilson Center grant.
(Send comments to cmorow@newpittsburghcourier.com.)
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