PITTSBURGH — A city-county agency plans to borrow money from the state to start building a new hockey arena for the Pittsburgh Penguins, rather than wait to see whether a gaming company that has promised to build the $290 million arena gets a slot machine license.

The Sports & Exhibition Authority would use the $25 million to $30 million state loan to start buying properties for the site of a new arena near Mellon Arena, where the Penguins have a lease through next season, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato said Monday.

The authority loan would be repaid using future slot machine proceeds earmarked for a state redevelopment fund.

Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. of Biloxi, Miss., has promised to pay for a new arena if it gets a state license to operate a slot machine parlor in the city. That license won't be awarded for several months, however, and Onorato said the city could lose the Penguins if arena plans are not moving forward by then.

The Penguins are for sale and Onorato said only one or two of as many as four groups interested in buying the team are committed to keeping the team in Pittsburgh no matter what happens with an arena.

"We can't just wait," Onorato said. "If we wait, we won't have time to save the franchise."

The Penguins have said the team could move after the 2006-07 season if an arena isn't built to replace 45-year-old Mellon Arena, the oldest and smallest in the National Hockey League.

Two other slots applicants, Majestic Star Casino of Detroit and Forest City Enterprises of Cleveland, have said only that they would help pay for an arena, but not for all of it.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have said they are wed to the Isle of Capri proposal, which includes a new arena that would not require any investment by the team or taxpayers.