The New UPMC Events Center at Robert Morris University opens Summer 2019.
Officials at Robert Morris University, located in suburban Pittsburgh, have awarded management of their new 161,000-sq.-ft. multi-purpose facility to OVG Facilities, the firm co-founded by former AEG CEO Tim Leiweke.
Named after the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the new UPMC Events Center is the future home of the Colonials and is scheduled to open in summer 2019. OVG Facilities currently manages several U.S. university complexes including the Kovalchick Complex at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and the UMBC Event Center at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
OVG Facilities will provide full management, booking, and operational services to the UPMC Events Center, including its 4,000-plus-seat arena dubbed Peoples Court, a practice court, locker rooms, a strength and conditioning center and concessions. The complex also includes an 11,000-sq.-ft. conference and meeting space for campus events and outside organization and host men’s and women’s basketball and women’s volleyball, as well as provide a venue for other events such as concerts, commencement, featured speakers, banquets, and much more.
"The UPMC Events Center is a remarkable complex, and we are thrilled the university has selected us to operate it," said Oak View Group’s Co-Chairman of Facilities, Peter Luukko in a statement to Billboard. "It's a beautiful, state-of-the-art facility, and we can’t wait to see the impact it will have on the university and community. Our team is well versed in what it takes to open university complexes, and we are diligently working towards opening the events center. We look forward to becoming part of the community."
The $43 million UPMC Events Center has attracted several corporate sponsors, including UPMC, Peoples, Koppers, Eat ‘n’ Park, PNC, P.J. Dick, Pepsi, and PGT Trucking. The UPMC Events Center is the largest capital project in the school's history with the university's Jay T. Carson, svp of institutional advancement calling the new facility "an entertainment destination for the entire Pittsburgh region."