David L. Lawrence Convention Center


The David L. Lawrence Convention Center is a convention, conference and exhibition building in downtown Pittsburgh in the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is served by two exits on Interstate 579. The initial David L. Lawrence Convention Center was completed on the site on February 7, 1981, but as part of a renewal plan the new, completely redesigned center was opened in 2003 and funded in conjunction with nearby Acrisure Stadium and PNC Park. It sits on the southern shoreline of the Allegheny River. It is the first LEED-certified convention center in North America and one of the first in the world. It is owned by the Sports & Exhibition Authority of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.

History

In the early 1970s a site on the opposite side of downtown Pittsburgh was considered for a modern convention center, on the shores of the Monongahela River. On September 20, 1971, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania failed to approve that location, and site work slowly began on the present site as the city and county submitted it to the commonwealth on December 10, 1974. There was a proposal in mid-1974 to locate the center at the then transitioning Penn Station. The center had its ceremonial groundbreaking on June 8, 1977.
On February 7, 1981, the original $35 million structure opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony by Mayor Richard Caliguiri, County Commissioner Tom Foerster and Governor Dick Thornburgh. The old convention center was and lacked a ballroom.
The 1981 building was demolished to make way for the current structure, built on the same site. After the Commonwealth approved funding for the redesigned center on February 3, 1999 Rafael Viñoly Architects, P.C. was chosen as the designer for the modern center on February 28, 1999. Viñoly along with Dewhurst MacFarlane & Partners and Goldreich Engineering P.C. constructed the $354 million riverfront landmark to contain of exhibit space, of additional exhibit space, a ballroom, 51 meeting rooms, two 250-seat lecture halls, teleconference and telecommunications capabilities and of retail space. The architect, Viñoly, began the design with a goal in mind of achieving the status of a "green" building. In 2003, the building was awarded Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, making it the first such convention center in the U.S. and the largest "green" building in the world.
The newly rebuilt building won the 2004 Supreme Award for structural engineering excellence from the Institution of Structural Engineers.
The convention center is home to prominent conventions, such as Anthrocon, the Pittsburgh RV Show, Pittsburgh Boat Show, Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show, Piratefest, and the acclaimed Pittsburgh International Auto Show.

Naming

The center—though completely a structure of 2003 construction—chose to retain the name of the earlier convention center on the site completed in 1981 in honor of David Leo Lawrence. Lawrence was an American politician who served as the Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania from 1959 to 1963, only retiring because of the state's then term limit of 1 per governor. He is to date the only mayor of Pittsburgh to be elected Governor of Pennsylvania. Previously, he had been the longest tenured mayor of Pittsburgh and the primary force behind Pittsburgh's urban renewal projects including the Mellon Arena, Gateway Center, Fort Pitt Tunnel and Point State Park. He was Pennsylvania's first Catholic Governor, and a major force in the national Democratic Party from the 1930s to the 1960s. Historians credit him with among other behind-the-scenes labors, leading a compromise at the 1944 National Democratic Convention that eventually made Harry Truman president. As well as healing a divided national convention of 1960 that resulted in the John F. Kennedy/Lyndon B. Johnson ticket, it is for these reasons as well as his work in the state and the city that he was dubbed "kingmaker" by party leaders.

Incidents

On February 13, 1982, a 130-pound cougar named Tom Tom mauled a 9-year-old Upper St. Clair boy at an auto show before an off-duty Pittsburgh Police officer shot the animal dead. The cougar was part of a display advertising the Mercury Cougar. The boy survived after being treated at Allegheny General Hospital for several days.
On February 12, 2002, less than two weeks before the scheduled opening of the new center, a 165-ton truss that was under construction collapsed, killing one and injuring two workers. The truss was part of the second phase of construction, scheduled for opening in 2003, and did not delay the February 23 opening of phase one.
On February 5, 2007, a section of concrete floor from the second floor loading dock collapsed under the weight of a tractor-trailer and fell onto the water feature area below. There were no injuries. The building remained closed until investigations by the contractors were completed on March 9, the fault was repaired, and the convention center reopened.

Notable events

1970s