Animal Friends will hold a groundbreaking ceremony and presentation at 1 p.m. Tuesday at 580 Camp Horne Road, Ohio Township, the planned site of its new shelter and resource center.

The groundbreaking had been scheduled for today but was cancelled because of flooding.

The agency plans a 30,000-square-foot center on the 13.5-acre site, which will include housing for more than 200 dogs, cats and small animals; classrooms, education and training facilities; a shop and more than a mile of walking trails. Plans for the $6.5 million center, which is expected to open in fall 2005, will be detailed at Tuesday's invitation-only ceremony.

The center will replace Animal Friends' cramped headquarters on Penn Avenue in the Strip District, which contains its no-kill shelter, spaying and neutering services, obedience classes and other education programs.

Animal Friends' board launched a fund-raising campaign and purchased the property in 2002, aiming to build a larger center that would offer comprehensive programs and improve the lives of pets and people around the region, said Marketing Director Kathleen Beaver. Since then, the campaign has raised more than $3.5 million in gifts and pledges, about 55 percent of the facility's cost.

A $1.5 million gift came from Animal Friends board member and attorney Lloyd Gluck, of Pittsburgh, and his wife, Virginia, Beaver said. The new headquarters will be named the Caryl Gates Gluck Resource Center at Animal Friends after Lloyd Gluck's late wife, a longtime supporter of Animal Friends and animal causes.

The wooded property contains a creek and is large enough for future expansion, Beaver said. Builders will use special drainage and mechanical systems to ensure the center is clean and efficient.

Cages will be built in varied sizes to accommodate animals' sizes, temperaments and medical conditions. The center also will include free roaming and group housing areas and a modern medical suite with surgical area, treatment rooms, quarantine and recovery areas, lab and X-ray room.