CRANBERRY TWP — The Pittsburgh Penguins have begun scheduling programs and events at the new UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex for August 2015 and are anticipating an opening date around that time.

The $70 million structure is taking shape near the intersection of Route 228 and Interstate 79 in Cranberry Township.

The 180,000-square-foot complex will have two ice rinks for both the Penguins and for public use in addition to a sports medical complex run by UPMC.

Rich Hixon, the executive director of strategic planning for the Penguins, said the scheduling of events at the new facility is preliminary, but added that he’s already talked with high schools and amateur teams about having games there.

In addition, Hixon said he’s been scheduling games for the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite program, which is a program for player development that includes “the region’s premier coaching staff, professional management and world-class training facilities,” according to the group’s website.

The Elite program will offer teams for both boys and girls at all age groups, Hixon said.

Finally, the Penguins official said he is scheduling public skating programs and open-ice times for residents when the facility opens.

“Right now we’re targeting August 2015 with an opening date,” Hixon said. “We’re still a little ways away from finalizing the scheduling, but we’re working through it as we speak.”

John Innocenti, who oversees UPMC Sports Medicine, said Thursday that “with luck and decent weather,” officials are aiming for a late-summer opening next year.

“Because of rain and less than ideal weather, the project lagged a tad slower than we anticipated,” he said.

“But the Penguins, our construction partners and UPMC are all excited about the progress we have made and how this project will end: with the Penguins and local youth hockey players on the ice for the 2015-16 season, and with patients in our sports medicine facility receiving our world-class care, treatment and performance training.”