A 150,000-square foot convocation center underway at
Indiana University of Pennsylvania has received $2.1 million through Pennsylvania's H2O PA fund, which directs $800 million toward flood control projects statewide.
The
Kovalchick Complex broke ground in November 2008. The $53.4 million project will include a 4,000- to 6,000-seat multi-use arena, a 650-seat auditorium, grand lobby, break-out facilities, office for university athletics staff, and a commercial kitchen. It will also include a full-service, 140-room hotel to be developed by Horizon Properties. The contractor for the facility, which will seek LEED certification, is
Mascaro Construction.
The facility, in the works for the past decade, is located on six and a half acres of land previously owned by Kovalchick Salvage along Wayne Avenue, adjacent to campus. The university will raise $20 million in matching funds against the state's $20 million to build the center. The H2O PA funds will help control flooding along three streams in the floodway near the complex, IUP's Miller Stadium, roads and rail lines.
"The purchase of the site was made by a group of community leadership groups and transferred to the state's Department of General Services in 2007," explains IUP spokesperson Michelle Fryling. When the complex opens in the Spring of 2011, it will be owned and managed by IUP. However, other community events, from local athletics to business trade shows and concerts, will also be hosted on site, Fryling says.
Source Michelle FrylingWriter: Chris O’Toole