Pitt To Advance Plans For $240 Million Sports Arena, Athletics Complex

PITTSBURGH, PA — The University of Pittsburgh hopes to advance a new $240 million upper campus project known as Victory Heights, which Pitt predicts will provide it with national-caliber competition, training and sports performance and sports medicine facilities.

Pitt officials will brief the city planning commission on the project, which will include:

• An athletic performance center serving the strength and conditioning, sports medicine, nutrition, and mental needs for 16 of Pitt's 19 intercollegiate athletics programs.
• A 3,000-seat arena for gymnastics, volleyball, and wrestling. Each of those teams currently practice and compete in the 70-year-old Fitzgerald Field House.

Pitt estimates that the complex will impact more than 85 percent of its student athletes on a daily basis.

"Victory Heights is the latest example of Pitt's vision to transform our training and teaching environments to allow our student-athletes to achieve at the highest competitive levels," Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke said. "This is more than an investment in facilities; it's
an investment in our young people and their championship dreams at Pitt."

The project will be built on vacant land adjacent to the Petersen Events Center. The property previously was part of the footprint of the long-demolished Pitt Stadium.