Pitt AD Heather Lyke hopes Victory Heights project leads to further success

At the moment, the space that will house Pitt’s $240 million Victory Heights Arena and Sports Performance Complex is occupied by a tall crane and several construction vehicles moving tons of dirt.

But athletic director Heather Lyke sees the facility that will rise from that dirt setting Pitt up for success in 16 of its 19 sports. The project, delayed one year by the pandemic, she projected opening in the fall of 2025.

“This is comparable to what we compete against every day,” Lyke said Thursday during a presentation at Petersen Events Center. “This project is going to transform Pitt athletics. It is going to transform our campus. It is really our demonstrated commitment to comprehensive excellence.

“We talk a lot about it. We believe in it. We’ve recruited the right coaches here to do it. We’ve recruited the kids. Now, our facilities will finally match our expectations.”

The complex will sit on 240,000 square feet adjacent to The Pete on the upper campus. It will include one connected structure with two buildings.

The centerpiece will be a 3,600-seat arena, the new home to Pitt’s wrestling, volleyball and gymnastics teams.

Lyke said nearly 85% of the school’s student-athletes will have the ability to train there. The only exceptions are football that trains on the South Side and men’s and women’s basketball that reside inside The Pete.

In addition to the arena, the sports performance center will house practice facilities and locker rooms for volleyball, wrestling, gymnastics and the spirit and dance squads.

Lyke said the wrestling team, which this year produced NCAA champion Nino Bonaccorsi while training in tight quarters in the basement of 72-year-old Fitzgerald Field house, will have space for four practice mats, enabling more simultaneous workouts.

When she took members of Pitt’s Board of Trustees on a tour of the field house, it opened some eyes.

“They believed our experience for our student-athletes here at Pitt needed to be enhanced and improved,” she said. “We used to be able to say wrestlers can just train anywhere. Put them in a basement and roll out a mat. Those are not our expectations anymore. This will elevate their ability to train.”

Spirit and dance teams have been “nomads,” Lyke said. “They practice here, practice there.”

When the complex is completed, those squads also will have their own space to train.

Also a part of the complex will be the 21,000 square feet Jeff and Sandra Martchek Family Strength and Conditioning Center. It will include indoor and outdoor turf zones, a sports medicine and nutrition center, rehabilitation pools, team rooms for video study, a student-athlete lounge and equipment room.

There also will be a rooftop lawn with a view of the Cathedral of Learning that Lyke envisions one day hosting watch parties for Pitt athletic events.

Lyke said the final phase of Victory Heights will be an indoor track and band complex, with a target opening of the fall of 2026.

“That’s going to happen. I like it to be one year behind,” Lyke said. “Once that is built, we can vacate the field house (where track currently trains).”

Lyke said there hasn’t been anything definitive decided on what will happen to the field house. Right now, the focus is on supporting Pitt’s sports programs with facilities at competing ACC and Power 5 schools.

“When you show recruits and you show coaches this is how important this program is at Pitt, this really demonstrates that,” she said.

Fundraising for the facility is an ongoing task. Lyke said more than $12 million of the $240 million cost has been covered by donors, but the initiatives continue. Plus, naming rights opportunities will exist, she said.

“We will debt service the rest of it,” she said. “That’s in our financial plan over the next years.”

“Everybody says you can’t build it here in Pittsburgh. How can you build it? You find a way, right?”