October 17, 2024 • 24 mins
Don Albensi has owned the building since 2012. The previous tenants opened Antonelli Event Center in 2014 and recently decided to retire, so Don is now taking on this exciting new endeavor! The Core Event Center offers a large capacity facility, with multiple rooms for events including weddings, parties, school functions and fundraisers. His desire is to also host live performances by many local artists covering all genres.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
And welcome man. This is the CEOs You Should Know podcast.
I'm your host, Johnny Hartwell, let's say hello to don
Albentzi of Core Event Center. Thank you for joining me.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hi, John, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
So tell us everything we need to know about your business.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Sure. Core Event Center is located in Irwin. It is
a event center that we like to provide for banquets, proms, weddings, sports, banquets.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
So it's multi yes, yes, all that. How big is
the Core Events.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
It's thirty five thousand square feet. That's big.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Yeah, that's really big.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Tige levels.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Yeah, but it's in addition to weddings and special events,
but you also have kind of concerts and different things
like that. We do.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah, you know, we look at the schedule for next year,
you know in January we say, well let's fill these
in with some concerts. And so for the large room,
we can seat over six hundred, seven hundred guests and
it's a nice concert. It's one of those concerts you
can go to and actually dance. We have a dance
floor for everybody and it works O nice.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
All right, So what's the history. What's the history behind
Core Event Center?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Well, I actually started this in January of this year,
but prior to that, it was a Antonelle event center
and they actually rented off me. I owned the building
that Core event centers in and so they rented off
me for the last fourteen years. Last year they decided
to retire, and I thought about it for a few
(01:34):
weeks and said, you know, I think I like to
get busy, and I've been retired for about seven years
and decided to get back into into the.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
In the event business. Now in the event Yeah, Now,
what kind of event business were you in prior to
your retirement?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Ironically nothing. I actually owned a dental laboratory for about
thirty eight years and nothing like an event center.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
But you own the building, right, yes, okay, so you
knew what they were doing. Did you learn from well?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, so the building is split in half and on
the one side is a dental laboratory and it has
thirty five thousand feet as well. We had two hundred
employees when I sold, but I would always watch the
event center. I was intrigued by that. I had my
sixtieth birthday party in the event center. We actually had
Billy Price come in and I noticed, not only did
(02:32):
they have my event. There was a wedding and it
was New Year's Eve and they handled all that, and yeah,
it was a few years ago, and I thought, well,
that would be nice to to someday be a part of.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
So when they said, hey, we're retiring, we're getting out
of the business, you know, it's up to you. What
prompted you saying, hey, I'm going to jump into this business.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Well, I think because I've watched them from a distance
for a lot of years, and I thought, well, if
I were, if I were to have this event center,
I think I'd like to try a few different things.
And you know, I have a vested interest in the
in the building. So I thought, you know, if I
put some some work into this building and and which
we have, we remodeled the entire building, I think we
(03:20):
can make something out of this and you know, we'll
see how how goes, you know, try it out for
the next few years and see what happens.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
All right, break down the building, tell us everything. Sure
you know the different aspects of Core Event Center.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Well, so when you pull into the parking lot, you'll
see a giant Core sign Core Event Center that we
just put on the building. You come into brand new
epoxy floors that are very marbly looking, and we have
a lobby that you'll enter with a reception desk. Then
(03:53):
as you walk in, the Grand Ballroom is on the
first floor. There's it's two stories, it's opened up. There's
a forty foot ceiling opens up to a second floor
loft with a balcony that overlooks and also seats seats
(04:13):
guests for any event there is on that same balcony.
We just refurbished a portion of that and we have
our bourbon and fine wine room. The uh what's nice
about it too is that we have in our renovations
we put quite a bit into the banquet room with cameras.
(04:39):
We have AI cameras to do facial recognition. So say
the bride comes in and we want camera B to
follow the bride throughout the evening. That's that's going on.
We have a sound system that is second to nine.
We actually have two sound system We have a house
sound system, but you also have the concert speakers as well.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Can you can you hold old ceremonies inside? Yes?
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yeah, yeah, Actually there's a chapel on the other side
of the Grand Ballroom. It's perfect and we use that
for no, only a chapel, but also when we have banquets,
that would be our buffet area.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
And how many let's say you have a ceremony, how
many how many guests can be invited in?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
We've seen four hundred and twenty five this year.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Wow, that's big.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Yeah yeah, and you know we could probably push five hundred,
but I would say the four to twenty five forst
sit down dinner would be be enough for our staff.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
So let's bring in Susan McCullough. Now you're kind of
the marketing person helping out Dawn here, so so tell
us about what's your perspective from a marketing standpoint. What
would you like to see happen with Core event Center.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
We're trying to become known as the premier events center
in Westmoreland County. We have so much to offer, as
was mentioned, between private events, public events like the concerts
we've done, comedy shows. We also have a restaurant. So
we're just trying to become known. Is the place to be,
the place to hang out or the place to rent?
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Is your special event like like almost a smaller convention center.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Exactly have you.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Had any kind of conventions participating in a core event center.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Yet Yeah, we just recently had a food broker that
came in and utilized the entire building for three days.
And so you know, they have the large grand ballroom
to do their you know, their group you know, large
group sessions. And then and then we have the breakout
rooms that each room can seat anywhere from thirty to
(06:45):
one hundred guests.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Well, I got to check this place out. This is
This is man for Westmoreland County. This is it sounds
like you have everything, you have so much to offer
to somebody.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
We are trying.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah, well you know it's we purposely waited, you know,
until we were done with renovations and right now and
this is a great opportunity to let folks know that
what we have to offer.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
And then Donni's, yes's who's that name?
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Now?
Speaker 2 (07:14):
You know, it's funny. We thought about, you know, the
name for a while and all of my employees that
we have to call Donnie's. So I gave into it
and it actually sticking and the folks like it. And
what kind of restaurant is is Donnie's. That's pretty eclectic.
We have Italian food. We kept so the Antonelli Events
Center as I said before, was the original owner. They
(07:37):
had a restaurant by the name of Woodies. So when
we did take it over, we actually owned the Woodies
recipes and the sauces that are known for like seventy
five years. So we have an Italian line, but we
also have steaks, seafood, pizzas, and we have wing night
Tuesday nights.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Al Benzi. Is that Italian?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yes it is.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
So you made no a little bit about Italian food.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yeah, yeah, right, In fact, we have I grew up
in a family bakery and uh, you know, my grandparents
came from Italy and they were all bakers and cooks,
and we knew how to make yakeys and rabbioli's and
homemade pasta. So we're actually bringing some of that to
our restaurant.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
So did you notice when we started talking food suddenly
he started to perk up. It was like, that's that's
one way to get to an Italian. Start talking Italian
food and then he's like, yes, I know, I have
all the recipes and I do this and that and
this and yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
There's even a dish named after him.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Oh yeah, the Campanella Ela Albenzi. Right, it's me and
what is that, well, campanella noodle. There's some hot sausage, tomatoes,
red sauce.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
It's yeah, you didn't bring any in.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
I know. Well, you have to come out and visit.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
So you've been you know, so you've been doing this
for our almost a year now. You were retired for
seven years. But prior to you know, coordinating events, what
did you do?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Yeah, I mentioned I owned a dental laboratory that I
actually I was twenty three in nineteen seventy nine when
I started my little business and I was by myself
for the first few years, and then we grew slowly
to as I said before, two hundred employees. We had
a great a great staff. We worked well together. Actually
(09:34):
we were named Pittsburgh's top workplace five out of the
last five years. And you know, we had a great team,
treated them great. They it was. It was more like
a family business. And you know, we worked. We were
in every state in this country. It's quite a nice business.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Does the business still exist? It does.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
It's National Dentex is the corporate owner of the business
and this NDX Albenzi that is still there now.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Okay, but what is your passion?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
You know, I think more than anything, I do love
the opportunity to touch the tables at the restaurant, see
the people go and see the folks in the weddings
that are having this event.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
You know, it's actually truly As an event center, you
get to see every aspect of life. You see everything
from baby shires to you know, weddings, proms, you know,
snowball dances, father daughter dances and the weddings and even wakes,
celebrations of life, and you know, it's it's all part
(10:46):
of life, and people come there to be happy. You know,
even in the darkest times during wakes they come, you
see them sad, but when they leaves, there's a closure
there for those folks at weddings, you know, it's all
it's actually it surprised me. I didn't expect that part
(11:07):
of this, you know, and when I started the event
center that I would actually be that part of the
community that people are talking about. They love to be there,
and it makes me want to make that place just
as I think we're going to constantly work on it.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Well, you know, if you're any kind of event, it's
something that is positive. So you're providing something that is
positive to not only people who are participating with Core
Event Center, but the community as well. So you know,
it's it's like shooting fish in a barrel. You're providing
something fun, right, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
And out in North Huntington, you know, we don't have
as many areas to hang out like you do here
in Pittsburgh, and I think the folks out there are
so used to watching Netflix on TV at night and
it's like when there's nothing to do. So now you know,
we have music four nights a week. We're establishing a
lot of events like wine, wine pairing, wine tasting. Susan
(12:05):
just had an event the other night. It was a
chakouterie class, right, Yeah, and there's about thirty folks there
and they're just it's funny. Like you said, you didn't
realize it was out there. Most people who live in
the area don't know that we have what we have
out there.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
All right, So when you launch Core Events Center, okay,
which was you said the beginning of the year, Yes,
was there some trupidation?
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Was there some nervousness? What was it like when you
first started? Well, yeah, exactly. I first of all, should
we change the name? I mean, people don't know me.
They know Antonelli, they know that brand. But you know,
I decided early like we're just going to jump tracks
here and just make this a whole new event center.
And now you can imagine event center. You know, Brian's
(12:52):
had their weddings picked out a year ahead of time. Fortunately,
we did not lose one wedding. We got a lot
of funk when this started and we asked them to
come in. We showed them what was going on, and
they were really surprised that, you know, the whole place
was painted. Yeah, thirty thousand square feet. That's a lot
of paint.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
I was just gonna say, that's a lot of bit. Yeah.
How many weddings did you do in twenty twenty four?
Speaker 2 (13:17):
You know, there's wedding seasons, as you know, you know,
it seems like spring, there's weddings. It slows up a
little bit in the summer.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Which is funny because it used to be, you know,
June and July used to be the hot wedding. It's
not anymore in Pittsburgh. I think it's cooler in the fall,
and so he picks up so many how many weddings?
Speaker 2 (13:35):
I think this year we'll probably have thirty five to
forty weddings, everything from you know, we just last week,
you know, with the hurricanes. It just happened down in Florida.
Somebody was having a wedding done at an island down there,
and they came up and said it had to be
canceled because their venue was destroyed. And they came up
and saw our place, and there's only gonna be about thirty,
(13:55):
you know, but it can go from thirty guests to
like I said, fifty.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Wow, that's big. That's big. So so as you present
them because not only is it weddings, but you also
you have live music, yes, which is that's brave. In
twenty twenty four, there's not a lot of places that
provide live music, and in Pittsburgh, people don't realize what
(14:20):
great musicians that we have here in Pittsburgh. So I
applaud you because you know, as a person who loves
music and loves live music. But it's it can be
risky though, you know it is.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
I mean there's some nights that you know you're hoping
a big crowd, there may only be ten people there,
you know, but well you're talking Pittsburgh weather, so you know,
you got to deal with that, but you know, it's
very rewarding. You get a chance to meet the entertainers,
and you're right, there's so much good talent in this area.
And we have up in the Bourbon Room. We're now
having our Jazz Night Thursday evening, Jazz Night this Thursday.
(14:58):
We have one more coming in and who's a big
hit in the Pittsburgh area. So Susan's helping out quite
a bit with bringing in the entertainment for the restaurant
in the Bourbon Lounge now on the banquet side, or
the when we do the large venue and have the
concerts in the large room, that's a whole other animal.
(15:19):
I mean, they were getting event Bright involved or we
have to sell tickets and you know, and get prepared
for you know, anywhere from three hundred to six hundred.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
People for people who aren't familiar with event Bright. That's
almost like like ticket coster. Yeah, basically really great. That's
what makes our life so much easier. And let's just
say for some reason, you know, the concert or whatever
has to be postponed or canceled, it can automatically refund
everybody's money.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
We don't have to touch anything. So they've been really
great to work with.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Okay, speaking of working with, let's talk about Donnie and Susan.
You work together, but that's that's that's not the extent
of the relationship.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Yeah. So yeah, Susan and I known each other for
about fifteen years, seventeen years, and she actually worked for
me in my dental laboratory two years back. And this
past year we found out that we were both available,
and we started dating last year and this year, November thirtieth,
(16:24):
we're going to be getting married at Corey Vincent.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
We're using the chapel using hard How difficult was it
to get it a weekend? A like an eight days?
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Very hard. We had two choices, two choices if we
wanted a Saturday wedding.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Yeah, and we wanted to use the whole building. So
it turns out November thirtieth was available. It gave us
a little bit more time to prepare this. I don't
know if that was good or bad, but.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
We uh, well, we're gonna have a real nice I
don't think I've done see I've probably done two hundred
CEO you should know interviews. I think this is the
first time I've actually had like somebody engaged it's getting
married within like a couple of months. That's fabulous.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah, it's going to work on that.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
So how did you meet? Uh, how did we re
meet or the first time? Well, yeah, how did you connect?
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Connect?
Speaker 1 (17:27):
So yeah, like I don't when you work together, there
wasn't any romantic now and then you know, and so
we don't care about that. We want to care about
I want to I want the romantic story there.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
So absolutely there was nothing, you know, no hanky panky
when you worked for me. That's kind of mynese who
I am. But last September, I was at a business
meeting and Susan's name came up from somebody who was
in the room, and I thought about Susan. Wait a minute,
I remember Susan, and I just instantly said I'd love
(17:58):
to catch up with her, and she said, oh, I
think she'd like that, And so I texted her that
afternoon and we made arrangements and I think we went
out a few days later, and it was it was
interesting to go out with somebody that worked for you
for ten years as an employee and now I'm dating her.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
And where and where did he propose?
Speaker 3 (18:20):
In Aruba?
Speaker 1 (18:22):
That's that's a location. Did you know it was happening?
Speaker 3 (18:26):
I was totally unprepared.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
That's done. If you're going to propose, you got to
you got a clue. The marketing person in you want
to promote it, Well, I can't let her in on that, okay.
So but each this is a kind of a new beginning.
So do you have do each of you have kids?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Yeah? A Susan has three and I have five and
my oldest is forty five, and I have young boys
that are now fourteen, twins identical twins. So yeah, and
we have three grandchildren.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Good for you. Well, I can't let you know twins?
What is what is that like?
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Oh my god? You honestly, I don't know how Susan even.
I'm like, baby, I guess I'm baggy.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Well I knew his three adult children, so that was
like I had worked with them. Oh okay, so that
was easy and fun and yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
But the young ones, she can cook really good and
so she's in okay.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
But so other than the events center and getting.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Married, Wait a minute, I have to mention their names,
Devin and Kieren el Venzi.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
So if you're listening, do you want to mention your
kids names? Or no, sure, go.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Ahead, Jamie Mealy, Jordan mess Sung and Jake BURRETTA.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
There you go. I mean you're filling up the Core
Event Center with your kids below. That's amazing. So you know,
other than you know, travel and organizing weddings and events,
what else do you like to do? What is what
are some of the things you like to do together?
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Sure, you know, it's funny, it's uh, it is like
a new relationship. And you know, you find yourself going
out with another couple and they're talking about things that
they've done like fifteen twenty years ago, and I just
laugh and I say, baby, you realize this is all
new to us. We are just like learning even though
(20:27):
we've known each other for all these years. What you
like you know? And you can always tell somebody at
the restaurant who's just started dating or starting you know,
they're asking these questions like do you like mushrooms or
do you you know, do you eat this? And you
know they're just new right.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah, that's us. Yeah, that's awesome, that's awesome. All right,
let's get back to Core Events, sir. All right, let's
talk about the future. What so, wow, you you stepped
into it. Big time this year. You've got a lot
of aspirations you talked about, you know, you know, expanding
the wedding and you have different rooms and things like that.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Where would you like to see this go? Well, you know,
we have a finite amount of time. You know, there's
only so many weekends out of the year. There's only
so many weekdays that you can have corporate events. You know,
my goal is to utilize that as much as possible.
(21:22):
So we have a few event coordinators that work for us,
Joey and Janelle that are doing a great job. We're
hiring some other folks to come in to bring in
more events, and so, you know, I like to get
to the point, John, where this is busy eighty percent
of the time. You know, I don't think anything works
(21:44):
good at one hundred percent of the time, So eighty
percent capacity would be really nice. And you know that
the trick is to keep the restaurant and the events
and the all the venues coordinated. I mean there's sometimes
you know, a group will come in and want to
just have to you know, the entire building, so that
(22:06):
means I have to close my restaurant for a day,
right And you know, we try to pick it on
a day that it's maybe a Tuesday or Wednesday that
we have to do that. But I know on our
wedding were taken the whole building.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Right, yeah, sorry, the restaurant's closed, or what we actually.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Had to ask a class reunion to reschedule.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Really, I was wondering. I was a wondering. I wouldn't
I didn't want to ask that. I was like, you know,
if you wanted to have a date, so you had
to do something right, right, that's awesome, all right? So
what else do you want us to know? Is did
we cover everything when it comes to the Core Event
center that or is there something that you would like
people to know?
Speaker 2 (22:43):
I think that Susan, you could probably agree with me
that we went. I don't think people realize everything we
have to offer, even as far as like event coordinating
and you know the we have a lot of add
ons that you would probably find in Pittsburgh at some
of the finer hotels, and we have you know, the music,
the lighting, photography. Our event coordinator can put anything together,
(23:08):
suggests areas to if you were to want to rent
coaches or whatever you'd want for your venue. We we
have everything that any party would want, whether it's be
a prom.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Wedding, the one stop shop, Yeah, I would say, and
you and you. It would be a perfect place for conventions, yes,
because you know there's fewer in the area now, because
I think you maybe a convention that wouldn't fit inside
the convention Center downtown. But that sounds like a perfect
(23:46):
venue because it's big, but it's not as big as
the convention Center, and it's it's easy to get to.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
We're actually having a bridal show convention in March of
next year, so yeah, that's going to be our first attempt,
but it would like other folks to come in and
look at it for their corporate events well.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
To get more information. What's the website Core.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Events Center dot com.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Don Albenzi and Susan McCullough, thank you so much from
the Core Event Center. It's been a pleasure. Thank you
so much. Thank you Jones. This has been the CEOs
you should know podcast showcasing businesses that are driving a
regional economy, part of iHeartMedia's commitment to the communities we serve.
I'm Johnny Heartwell, thank you so much for listening.
And welcome man. This is the CEOs You Should Know podcast.
I'm your host, Johnny Hartwell, let's say hello to don
Albentzi of Core Event Center. Thank you for joining me.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hi, John, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
So tell us everything we need to know about your business.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Sure. Core Event Center is located in Irwin. It is
a event center that we like to provide for banquets, proms, weddings, sports, banquets.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
So it's multi yes, yes, all that. How big is
the Core Events.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
It's thirty five thousand square feet. That's big.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Yeah, that's really big.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Tige levels.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Yeah, but it's in addition to weddings and special events,
but you also have kind of concerts and different things
like that. We do.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah, you know, we look at the schedule for next year,
you know in January we say, well let's fill these
in with some concerts. And so for the large room,
we can seat over six hundred, seven hundred guests and
it's a nice concert. It's one of those concerts you
can go to and actually dance. We have a dance
floor for everybody and it works O nice.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
All right, So what's the history. What's the history behind
Core Event Center?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Well, I actually started this in January of this year,
but prior to that, it was a Antonelle event center
and they actually rented off me. I owned the building
that Core event centers in and so they rented off
me for the last fourteen years. Last year they decided
to retire, and I thought about it for a few
(01:34):
weeks and said, you know, I think I like to
get busy, and I've been retired for about seven years
and decided to get back into into the.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
In the event business. Now in the event Yeah, Now,
what kind of event business were you in prior to
your retirement?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Ironically nothing. I actually owned a dental laboratory for about
thirty eight years and nothing like an event center.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
But you own the building, right, yes, okay, so you
knew what they were doing. Did you learn from well?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, so the building is split in half and on
the one side is a dental laboratory and it has
thirty five thousand feet as well. We had two hundred
employees when I sold, but I would always watch the
event center. I was intrigued by that. I had my
sixtieth birthday party in the event center. We actually had
Billy Price come in and I noticed, not only did
(02:32):
they have my event. There was a wedding and it
was New Year's Eve and they handled all that, and yeah,
it was a few years ago, and I thought, well,
that would be nice to to someday be a part of.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
So when they said, hey, we're retiring, we're getting out
of the business, you know, it's up to you. What
prompted you saying, hey, I'm going to jump into this business.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Well, I think because I've watched them from a distance
for a lot of years, and I thought, well, if
I were, if I were to have this event center,
I think I'd like to try a few different things.
And you know, I have a vested interest in the
in the building. So I thought, you know, if I
put some some work into this building and and which
we have, we remodeled the entire building, I think we
(03:20):
can make something out of this and you know, we'll
see how how goes, you know, try it out for
the next few years and see what happens.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
All right, break down the building, tell us everything. Sure
you know the different aspects of Core Event Center.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Well, so when you pull into the parking lot, you'll
see a giant Core sign Core Event Center that we
just put on the building. You come into brand new
epoxy floors that are very marbly looking, and we have
a lobby that you'll enter with a reception desk. Then
(03:53):
as you walk in, the Grand Ballroom is on the
first floor. There's it's two stories, it's opened up. There's
a forty foot ceiling opens up to a second floor
loft with a balcony that overlooks and also seats seats
(04:13):
guests for any event there is on that same balcony.
We just refurbished a portion of that and we have
our bourbon and fine wine room. The uh what's nice
about it too is that we have in our renovations
we put quite a bit into the banquet room with cameras.
(04:39):
We have AI cameras to do facial recognition. So say
the bride comes in and we want camera B to
follow the bride throughout the evening. That's that's going on.
We have a sound system that is second to nine.
We actually have two sound system We have a house
sound system, but you also have the concert speakers as well.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Can you can you hold old ceremonies inside? Yes?
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yeah, yeah, Actually there's a chapel on the other side
of the Grand Ballroom. It's perfect and we use that
for no, only a chapel, but also when we have banquets,
that would be our buffet area.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
And how many let's say you have a ceremony, how
many how many guests can be invited in?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
We've seen four hundred and twenty five this year.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Wow, that's big.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Yeah yeah, and you know we could probably push five hundred,
but I would say the four to twenty five forst
sit down dinner would be be enough for our staff.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
So let's bring in Susan McCullough. Now you're kind of
the marketing person helping out Dawn here, so so tell
us about what's your perspective from a marketing standpoint. What
would you like to see happen with Core event Center.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
We're trying to become known as the premier events center
in Westmoreland County. We have so much to offer, as
was mentioned, between private events, public events like the concerts
we've done, comedy shows. We also have a restaurant. So
we're just trying to become known. Is the place to be,
the place to hang out or the place to rent?
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Is your special event like like almost a smaller convention center.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Exactly have you.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Had any kind of conventions participating in a core event center.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Yet Yeah, we just recently had a food broker that
came in and utilized the entire building for three days.
And so you know, they have the large grand ballroom
to do their you know, their group you know, large
group sessions. And then and then we have the breakout
rooms that each room can seat anywhere from thirty to
(06:45):
one hundred guests.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Well, I got to check this place out. This is
This is man for Westmoreland County. This is it sounds
like you have everything, you have so much to offer
to somebody.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
We are trying.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah, well you know it's we purposely waited, you know,
until we were done with renovations and right now and
this is a great opportunity to let folks know that
what we have to offer.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
And then Donni's, yes's who's that name?
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Now?
Speaker 2 (07:14):
You know, it's funny. We thought about, you know, the
name for a while and all of my employees that
we have to call Donnie's. So I gave into it
and it actually sticking and the folks like it. And
what kind of restaurant is is Donnie's. That's pretty eclectic.
We have Italian food. We kept so the Antonelli Events
Center as I said before, was the original owner. They
(07:37):
had a restaurant by the name of Woodies. So when
we did take it over, we actually owned the Woodies
recipes and the sauces that are known for like seventy
five years. So we have an Italian line, but we
also have steaks, seafood, pizzas, and we have wing night
Tuesday nights.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Al Benzi. Is that Italian?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yes it is.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
So you made no a little bit about Italian food.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yeah, yeah, right, In fact, we have I grew up
in a family bakery and uh, you know, my grandparents
came from Italy and they were all bakers and cooks,
and we knew how to make yakeys and rabbioli's and
homemade pasta. So we're actually bringing some of that to
our restaurant.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
So did you notice when we started talking food suddenly
he started to perk up. It was like, that's that's
one way to get to an Italian. Start talking Italian
food and then he's like, yes, I know, I have
all the recipes and I do this and that and
this and yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
There's even a dish named after him.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Oh yeah, the Campanella Ela Albenzi. Right, it's me and
what is that, well, campanella noodle. There's some hot sausage, tomatoes,
red sauce.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
It's yeah, you didn't bring any in.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
I know. Well, you have to come out and visit.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
So you've been you know, so you've been doing this
for our almost a year now. You were retired for
seven years. But prior to you know, coordinating events, what
did you do?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Yeah, I mentioned I owned a dental laboratory that I
actually I was twenty three in nineteen seventy nine when
I started my little business and I was by myself
for the first few years, and then we grew slowly
to as I said before, two hundred employees. We had
a great a great staff. We worked well together. Actually
(09:34):
we were named Pittsburgh's top workplace five out of the
last five years. And you know, we had a great team,
treated them great. They it was. It was more like
a family business. And you know, we worked. We were
in every state in this country. It's quite a nice business.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Does the business still exist? It does.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
It's National Dentex is the corporate owner of the business
and this NDX Albenzi that is still there now.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Okay, but what is your passion?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
You know, I think more than anything, I do love
the opportunity to touch the tables at the restaurant, see
the people go and see the folks in the weddings
that are having this event.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
You know, it's actually truly As an event center, you
get to see every aspect of life. You see everything
from baby shires to you know, weddings, proms, you know,
snowball dances, father daughter dances and the weddings and even wakes,
celebrations of life, and you know, it's it's all part
(10:46):
of life, and people come there to be happy. You know,
even in the darkest times during wakes they come, you
see them sad, but when they leaves, there's a closure
there for those folks at weddings, you know, it's all
it's actually it surprised me. I didn't expect that part
(11:07):
of this, you know, and when I started the event
center that I would actually be that part of the
community that people are talking about. They love to be there,
and it makes me want to make that place just
as I think we're going to constantly work on it.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Well, you know, if you're any kind of event, it's
something that is positive. So you're providing something that is
positive to not only people who are participating with Core
Event Center, but the community as well. So you know,
it's it's like shooting fish in a barrel. You're providing
something fun, right, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
And out in North Huntington, you know, we don't have
as many areas to hang out like you do here
in Pittsburgh, and I think the folks out there are
so used to watching Netflix on TV at night and
it's like when there's nothing to do. So now you know,
we have music four nights a week. We're establishing a
lot of events like wine, wine pairing, wine tasting. Susan
(12:05):
just had an event the other night. It was a
chakouterie class, right, Yeah, and there's about thirty folks there
and they're just it's funny. Like you said, you didn't
realize it was out there. Most people who live in
the area don't know that we have what we have
out there.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
All right, So when you launch Core Events Center, okay,
which was you said the beginning of the year, Yes,
was there some trupidation?
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Was there some nervousness? What was it like when you
first started? Well, yeah, exactly. I first of all, should
we change the name? I mean, people don't know me.
They know Antonelli, they know that brand. But you know,
I decided early like we're just going to jump tracks
here and just make this a whole new event center.
And now you can imagine event center. You know, Brian's
(12:52):
had their weddings picked out a year ahead of time. Fortunately,
we did not lose one wedding. We got a lot
of funk when this started and we asked them to
come in. We showed them what was going on, and
they were really surprised that, you know, the whole place
was painted. Yeah, thirty thousand square feet. That's a lot
of paint.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
I was just gonna say, that's a lot of bit. Yeah.
How many weddings did you do in twenty twenty four?
Speaker 2 (13:17):
You know, there's wedding seasons, as you know, you know,
it seems like spring, there's weddings. It slows up a
little bit in the summer.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Which is funny because it used to be, you know,
June and July used to be the hot wedding. It's
not anymore in Pittsburgh. I think it's cooler in the fall,
and so he picks up so many how many weddings?
Speaker 2 (13:35):
I think this year we'll probably have thirty five to
forty weddings, everything from you know, we just last week,
you know, with the hurricanes. It just happened down in Florida.
Somebody was having a wedding done at an island down there,
and they came up and said it had to be
canceled because their venue was destroyed. And they came up
and saw our place, and there's only gonna be about thirty,
(13:55):
you know, but it can go from thirty guests to
like I said, fifty.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Wow, that's big. That's big. So so as you present
them because not only is it weddings, but you also
you have live music, yes, which is that's brave. In
twenty twenty four, there's not a lot of places that
provide live music, and in Pittsburgh, people don't realize what
(14:20):
great musicians that we have here in Pittsburgh. So I
applaud you because you know, as a person who loves
music and loves live music. But it's it can be
risky though, you know it is.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
I mean there's some nights that you know you're hoping
a big crowd, there may only be ten people there,
you know, but well you're talking Pittsburgh weather, so you know,
you got to deal with that, but you know, it's
very rewarding. You get a chance to meet the entertainers,
and you're right, there's so much good talent in this area.
And we have up in the Bourbon Room. We're now
having our Jazz Night Thursday evening, Jazz Night this Thursday.
(14:58):
We have one more coming in and who's a big
hit in the Pittsburgh area. So Susan's helping out quite
a bit with bringing in the entertainment for the restaurant
in the Bourbon Lounge now on the banquet side, or
the when we do the large venue and have the
concerts in the large room, that's a whole other animal.
(15:19):
I mean, they were getting event Bright involved or we
have to sell tickets and you know, and get prepared
for you know, anywhere from three hundred to six hundred.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
People for people who aren't familiar with event Bright. That's
almost like like ticket coster. Yeah, basically really great. That's
what makes our life so much easier. And let's just
say for some reason, you know, the concert or whatever
has to be postponed or canceled, it can automatically refund
everybody's money.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
We don't have to touch anything. So they've been really
great to work with.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Okay, speaking of working with, let's talk about Donnie and Susan.
You work together, but that's that's that's not the extent
of the relationship.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Yeah. So yeah, Susan and I known each other for
about fifteen years, seventeen years, and she actually worked for
me in my dental laboratory two years back. And this
past year we found out that we were both available,
and we started dating last year and this year, November thirtieth,
(16:24):
we're going to be getting married at Corey Vincent.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
We're using the chapel using hard How difficult was it
to get it a weekend? A like an eight days?
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Very hard. We had two choices, two choices if we
wanted a Saturday wedding.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Yeah, and we wanted to use the whole building. So
it turns out November thirtieth was available. It gave us
a little bit more time to prepare this. I don't
know if that was good or bad, but.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
We uh, well, we're gonna have a real nice I
don't think I've done see I've probably done two hundred
CEO you should know interviews. I think this is the
first time I've actually had like somebody engaged it's getting
married within like a couple of months. That's fabulous.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah, it's going to work on that.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
So how did you meet? Uh, how did we re
meet or the first time? Well, yeah, how did you connect?
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Connect?
Speaker 1 (17:27):
So yeah, like I don't when you work together, there
wasn't any romantic now and then you know, and so
we don't care about that. We want to care about
I want to I want the romantic story there.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
So absolutely there was nothing, you know, no hanky panky
when you worked for me. That's kind of mynese who
I am. But last September, I was at a business
meeting and Susan's name came up from somebody who was
in the room, and I thought about Susan. Wait a minute,
I remember Susan, and I just instantly said I'd love
(17:58):
to catch up with her, and she said, oh, I
think she'd like that, And so I texted her that
afternoon and we made arrangements and I think we went
out a few days later, and it was it was
interesting to go out with somebody that worked for you
for ten years as an employee and now I'm dating her.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
And where and where did he propose?
Speaker 3 (18:20):
In Aruba?
Speaker 1 (18:22):
That's that's a location. Did you know it was happening?
Speaker 3 (18:26):
I was totally unprepared.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
That's done. If you're going to propose, you got to
you got a clue. The marketing person in you want
to promote it, Well, I can't let her in on that, okay.
So but each this is a kind of a new beginning.
So do you have do each of you have kids?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Yeah? A Susan has three and I have five and
my oldest is forty five, and I have young boys
that are now fourteen, twins identical twins. So yeah, and
we have three grandchildren.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Good for you. Well, I can't let you know twins?
What is what is that like?
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Oh my god? You honestly, I don't know how Susan even.
I'm like, baby, I guess I'm baggy.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Well I knew his three adult children, so that was
like I had worked with them. Oh okay, so that
was easy and fun and yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
But the young ones, she can cook really good and
so she's in okay.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
But so other than the events center and getting.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Married, Wait a minute, I have to mention their names,
Devin and Kieren el Venzi.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
So if you're listening, do you want to mention your
kids names? Or no, sure, go.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Ahead, Jamie Mealy, Jordan mess Sung and Jake BURRETTA.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
There you go. I mean you're filling up the Core
Event Center with your kids below. That's amazing. So you know,
other than you know, travel and organizing weddings and events,
what else do you like to do? What is what
are some of the things you like to do together?
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Sure, you know, it's funny, it's uh, it is like
a new relationship. And you know, you find yourself going
out with another couple and they're talking about things that
they've done like fifteen twenty years ago, and I just
laugh and I say, baby, you realize this is all
new to us. We are just like learning even though
(20:27):
we've known each other for all these years. What you
like you know? And you can always tell somebody at
the restaurant who's just started dating or starting you know,
they're asking these questions like do you like mushrooms or
do you you know, do you eat this? And you
know they're just new right.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah, that's us. Yeah, that's awesome, that's awesome. All right,
let's get back to Core Events, sir. All right, let's
talk about the future. What so, wow, you you stepped
into it. Big time this year. You've got a lot
of aspirations you talked about, you know, you know, expanding
the wedding and you have different rooms and things like that.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Where would you like to see this go? Well, you know,
we have a finite amount of time. You know, there's
only so many weekends out of the year. There's only
so many weekdays that you can have corporate events. You know,
my goal is to utilize that as much as possible.
(21:22):
So we have a few event coordinators that work for us,
Joey and Janelle that are doing a great job. We're
hiring some other folks to come in to bring in
more events, and so, you know, I like to get
to the point, John, where this is busy eighty percent
of the time. You know, I don't think anything works
(21:44):
good at one hundred percent of the time, So eighty
percent capacity would be really nice. And you know that
the trick is to keep the restaurant and the events
and the all the venues coordinated. I mean there's sometimes
you know, a group will come in and want to
just have to you know, the entire building, so that
(22:06):
means I have to close my restaurant for a day,
right And you know, we try to pick it on
a day that it's maybe a Tuesday or Wednesday that
we have to do that. But I know on our
wedding were taken the whole building.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Right, yeah, sorry, the restaurant's closed, or what we actually.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Had to ask a class reunion to reschedule.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Really, I was wondering. I was a wondering. I wouldn't
I didn't want to ask that. I was like, you know,
if you wanted to have a date, so you had
to do something right, right, that's awesome, all right? So
what else do you want us to know? Is did
we cover everything when it comes to the Core Event
center that or is there something that you would like
people to know?
Speaker 2 (22:43):
I think that Susan, you could probably agree with me
that we went. I don't think people realize everything we
have to offer, even as far as like event coordinating
and you know the we have a lot of add
ons that you would probably find in Pittsburgh at some
of the finer hotels, and we have you know, the music,
the lighting, photography. Our event coordinator can put anything together,
(23:08):
suggests areas to if you were to want to rent
coaches or whatever you'd want for your venue. We we
have everything that any party would want, whether it's be
a prom.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Wedding, the one stop shop, Yeah, I would say, and
you and you. It would be a perfect place for conventions, yes,
because you know there's fewer in the area now, because
I think you maybe a convention that wouldn't fit inside
the convention Center downtown. But that sounds like a perfect
(23:46):
venue because it's big, but it's not as big as
the convention Center, and it's it's easy to get to.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
We're actually having a bridal show convention in March of
next year, so yeah, that's going to be our first attempt,
but it would like other folks to come in and
look at it for their corporate events well.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
To get more information. What's the website Core.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Events Center dot com.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Don Albenzi and Susan McCullough, thank you so much from
the Core Event Center. It's been a pleasure. Thank you
so much. Thank you Jones. This has been the CEOs
you should know podcast showcasing businesses that are driving a
regional economy, part of iHeartMedia's commitment to the communities we serve.
I'm Johnny Heartwell, thank you so much for listening.
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