Philadelphia Firm Is Hired to Run New Convention Center in Pittsburgh.

Byline: Tom Barnes

Nov. 12--The Sports & Exhibition Authority has chosen SMG of Philadelphia to run the new David L. Lawrence Convention Center, whose cost is almost certain to rise above the $332 million figure announced earlier this week.

The authority chose SMG over a joint venture of Global Spectrum of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh-based CB Richard Ellis Sports, the only other group that had submitted a bid to run the steel and glass structure with the shiny, sloping roof.

Authority officials said they were impressed with the ideas presented by both competitors over the past two weeks, but said they thought SMG had greater experience in running convention centers. SMG also has run Mellon Arena for the past 10 years and ran Three Rivers Stadium for nearly 20 years before it was razed in February.

SMG …