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The Bridge View Center – located in Ottumwa, Iowa – has become the latest multi-purpose complex to join the growing VenuWorks portfolio of facilties. In early November, Ottumwa City Council unanimously approved an agreement with the management firm, based in Ames, Iowa, that runs through June 2016.

"We are very pleased to welcome VenuWorks as the new management firm for the Bridge View Center,” said Mayor Dale Uehling.  “VenuWorks will be a great fit for the Ottumwa community."

Located on the banks of the Des Moines River, the 92,000-square-foot complex features a 655 seat theater, multiple meeting rooms and a 30,000 square foot multi-purpose exposition hall with a capacity for up to 2,500 for concerts and other entertainment events. The Bridge View Center, which opened in 2007 accommodates conventions, conferences, trade shows, stage shows, as well as major entertainment attractions. VenuWorks will take over from Centerplate, who had been managing the facility since its opening. The VenuWorks was awarded a full-management contract, covering operations, marketing and food & beverage.

“This is a beautiful facility in a community that is entering an exciting renaissance that promises big things to come in the next few years,” said Steve Peters, President, VenuWorks. “It will be a privilege for VenuWorks to be a part of that progress.”

In order to ensure a smooth transition into the VenuWorks brand, facility management veteran and VenuWorks stalwart, Larry Gawronski, has been named Executive Director of the Bridge View Center. “We are bringing the right person in Larry Gawronski to assume the responsibilities of transitioning the Bridge View Center to the VenuWorks family,” said Peters.

Gawronski is moving to Ottumwa from Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he has served as Executive Director of the Vicksburg Convention Center and Auditorium since 2001. A nationwide search for a successor with experience in convention center management has begun with an aggressive schedule to have a new director in place following the holidays.

Gawronski brings over 30 years of diverse hospitality, entertainment business and venue management experience to the position “It’s an honor to be selected to lead Bridgeview Center and be a part of its continued success,” said Gawronski. “It was quite a difficult decision to leave Vicksburg. It has been my privilege to work with the VCC staff and the Convention Center and Auditorium Advisory Board over the past 11 years.”

“We will miss his leadership in Vicksburg but he is leaving us in great shape with an amazing staff and a new 5-year agreement with the City of Vicksburg,” added Peters.