U. is seeking to buy Phila. Civic Center

City seems likely to sell The University is currently negotiating with the city of Philadelphia for the purchase of the nearby Philadelphia Civic Center, Executive Vice President Janet Hale said last night. Hale would not disclose any sale prices being discussed by the two parties. In 1991, Medical Center officials began looking across 34th Street towards the Civic Center for a potential expansion site. Currently, the Medical Center plans to turn the Civic Center site into an outpatient-care facility. Eventually, the rest of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania would move there. Although the University doesn't own the Civic Center, that's not likely to be too big a problem. Now that the city's downtown Convention Center is open for business, the city no longer needs the Civic Center, which was losing money even without the Convention Center's competition. City officials could not be reached for comment last night. In the fall of 1992, a report by City Controller Jonathan Saidel said the Civic Center lost $6 million during the 1991 fiscal year. The report called for the city – which had drastically cut the amount of money it was spending to maintain the Civic Center – either to renovate the facility before it "deteriorates to the point of becoming an eyesore," or sell it. "[The city] cannot afford to subsidize continued losses," the report stated. Several current factors suggest that HUP may be about to embark on a major expansion push in the near future. First, the University has been considering a master trust indenture, a legal instrument that would allow the University and HUP to issue debt separately. This would insulate the University from the implications of new HUP debt. Second, the master trust indenture would also raise the total amount of money the University is capable of borrowing. Third, HUP is now two years into an eight-year, $241 million plan to renovate HUP's current facilities. Fourth, the same low interest rates that are leading homeowners across the country to refinance their mortgages are also making it a very good time for business to take on debt. Add it all up and HUP may have found a relatively inexpensive way to pay for a substantial part of its expansion, as well as for part of its renovation. HUP Executive Director Wilbur Pittinger said yesterday that debt is one of the ways HUP could use to pay for part of its outpatient care facility and for HUP's current renovations.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.