Peoria Civic Center

"Carver Arena" redirects here. For the arena at the University of Iowa, see Carver–Hawkeye Arena.

Coordinates: 40°41′31″N 89°35′47″W / 40.69194°N 89.59639°W / 40.69194; -89.59639

Peoria Civic Center
Address 201 SW Jefferson St
Peoria, IL 61602-1423
Coordinates 40.6919808, -89.594261
Owner City of Peoria
Operator SMG
Built April 30, 1979 (1979-04-30)
Inaugurated June 6, 1982 (1982-06-06)
Opened February 1982 (1982-02)[1]
Renovated 1992, 2007
Construction cost
$64.2 million
($210 million in 2016 dollars[2])
$55 million (2007 renovations)
($66.8 million in 2016 dollars[2])
Enclosed space
  Exhibit hall floor 108,668 square feet (10,095.6 m2)
  Breakout/meeting 17,355 square feet (1,612.3 m2)
  Ballroom 28,667 square feet (2,663.3 m2)
Website Venue Website

Peoria Civic Center is a convention center located in downtown Peoria, Illinois. It has an arena, theater, exhibit hall and meeting rooms. It was built in 1982 and completed an expansion to its lobby and meeting facilities in 2008. The site of the convention center was built where the former Jefferson Hotel once stood. The hotel was a site along the Underground Railroad.[3]

Carver Arena

Carver Arena is the home of the Bradley Braves men's basketball team and the Peoria Rivermen Southern Professional Hockey League ice hockey team (and previous incarnations of the Rivermen in the IHL, ECHL and AHL), and was formerly home to the Peoria Pirates arena football team. Prior to playing at Carver Arena, Bradley hosted its games at Robertson Memorial Field House. It hosted the 1988 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament title game. It seats 9,919 for hockey and indoor football, 11,433 for basketball and up to 12,036 for concerts.[4]

Carver Arena also plays host to the Illinois High School Association boys' basketball state finals for two weeks every March. The interactive March Madness Experience takes places in the adjacent exhibition hall during the tournaments. Concerts, circuses, trade shows (an arena floor 124 feet (38 m) by 238 feet (73 m) for 29,512 square feet (2,741.8 m2) of space), wrestling matches and other events are held here. The arena also contains a 60-by-40-foot portable stage, a production office, eight dressing rooms (four large and four small), eight spotlights, and a 76-foot (23 m) ceiling height. There is also an arena club at Carver Arena, five concession stands, eight restrooms, and two luxury suites. It hosted the first CollegeInsider.com Tournament where the Braves lost to Old Dominion in the finals.

Tenants

Bradley Braves (NCAA) (1982–present)
Peoria Prancers/Rivermen (IHL) (1982–1996)
Peoria Rivermen (ECHL) (19962005)
Peoria Pirates (af2) (19992009)
Peoria Rivermen (AHL) (20052013)
Peoria Rivermen (SPHL) (2013present)

Exhibit Halls

The Civic Center Exhibit halls feature 108,668 square feet (10,095.6 m²) of space and can hold up to 7,265 persons. It can be divided into four smaller halls and is used for banquets, trade shows, and other events.

Theater

The 2,244-seat theater is used for concerts, Broadway shows, ballet, orchestra concerts, and other events. It contains ten dressing rooms including a star dressing room, four 12-person chorus rooms, two 8-person dressing rooms, two 6-person dressing rooms and a 3-person dressing room, and a 1,250-square-foot (116 m2) rehearsal hall backstage. There are 1,450 seats in the main level, 378 seats in the lower balcony and 348 seats in the upper balcony.

Tenants

Peoria Symphony Orchestra
Peoria Ballet

Meeting rooms

There are ten meeting rooms totaling 16,889 square feet (1,569.0 m2) and divisible into 16 meeting rooms.

Ballroom

The ballroom has flexible air walls that can divide the room into 9 different configurations and can hold up to 6500 people.

References

  1. Phelps, Tori (October 2002). "Peoria's Civic Center 20 Years". Arts Alive!. Central Illinois Business Publishers, Inc. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  2. 1 2 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Community Development Project. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
  3. Thompson, Katie (January–February 2008). "The Long Road to Freedom". Peoria Magazines. Central Illinois Business Publishers, Inc. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  4. "Arena". Peoria Civic Center. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Peoria Civic Center.

Peoria Rivermen Hockey Team - rivermen.net

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