Riverhounds, partners to build new complex in Coraopolis
Development, set for completion in 2021, to feature soccer fields, medical offices
Tuffy Shallenberger doesn’t dress up often.
The Riverhounds SC owner likes to keep it simple, often wearing boots, blue jeans and a trucker’s hat when checking his team’s progress. It’s attire more fitting of Shallenberger’s role as president of Connellsvillebased Shallenberger Construction than his soccer association.
But Wednesday marked a special occasion for Shallenberger at Highmark Stadium, as the Riverhounds joined with Highmark Health and Allegheny Health Network ( AHN) to announce plans for a 78- acre health and sports complex to be built in Coraopolis.
Shallenberger, clad in a gray Riverhounds polo shirt, black Riverhounds training pants and absent a hat, even dressed for the moment.
“Not only [ will] the
Riverhounds benefit from this, but the community, the kids,” Shallenberger said to a group of community leaders and business officials from the region, including state Sen. Wayne Fontana.” If it’s not the best in the country, and I’m talking country not state, it’s going to be right there with the best of them.”
The complex, AHN Montour Health and Sports Medicine Center, will be on State Avenue and adjacent to the Montour Trail in Coraopolis. Support for the project comes from the administration of Gov. Tom Wolf, through $ 2.5 million in grants from the Redevelopment Capital Assistance Program.
Two phases of construction will result in 10 turfed, FIFA regulation- size soccer and multipurpose fields, including two indoor fields. The 20,000- square- foot AHN medical facility will house different services, including primary care and pediatrics, orthopaedic and sports medicine services, as well as a physician- led concussion diagnosis and management program. Shallenberger said the Riverhounds “don’t have
MLS in our sights right now,” curtailing the natural inclination to think of the announcement as part of the process to join the country’s top soccer league.
Shallenberger said discussions about the complex started with Allegheny County representatives about five years ago. A few years later, two outdoor turf fields near the complex’s planned site were built ( the fields are the alternative training site for the Riverhounds when Highmark Stadium is unavailable).
Phase 1 of construction features the medical facility and an attached indoor field, and it is expected to be open in summer 2020. The second phase includes the remaining turf fields and is expected to be ready in 2021.
The Coraopolis facility also will become the new team headquarters for the Riverhounds, with matches still at Highmark Stadium. In addition to being the pro team’s practice site, the complex will be the home base for the Riverhounds Development Academy ( RDA), which trains more than 5,000 athletes annually.
“It’s going to give a more professional atmosphere,” Shallenberger said. “It’s going to be more accessible for kids, not only in the Riverhounds Academy, but the other youth programs that can come out and get private training.”
The RDA is a member of the Elite Clubs National League for its boys and girls teams, and Shallenberger said talks have already begun to bring national youth soccer events, as well as other sports like lacrosse and rugby, to the complex.
The facility provides the Riverhounds with room to operate, something not found in abundance in the Pittsburgh area.
Highmark Stadium’s configuration, on the banks of the Monongahela River and surrounded by pricey land, highlights the difficulty faced by local soccer clubs.
“That’s one of our biggest downfalls in this area is field space,” Shallenberger said. “We just need field space to keep developing these players. That’s the main intent.”