Perini's Power Play
New Arena Erected in 17 Months
By K. Robert Wendel

It's been a fast and furious 17 months but the blades are on the ice at the Glendale Arena, the new home of the National Hockey League's Phoenix Coyotes.

The construction team, led by Perini Building Company, wrapped up the 18,000-seat arena in time for the Coyotes to begin playing in December.

Although slowed by weather that dumped more rain in 10 days than Phoenix saw in 2002, contractors were able to complete the project on time.

"To my knowledge, this is the fastest project ever designed and constructed for an NBA or NHL arena," said architect Jack Boyle, project manager for Kansas City, Mo.-based HOK Sport + Venue + Event. "There's a triangle we have to deal with, whether it is budget driven, schedule driven or quality driven, it depends on the owner's priorities.
This project is driven by all three."

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Ken Schacherbaur, Perini project manager, said the key to the fast construction was the arena's design. The hockey arena boasts more than 75,000 sq. ft. of clear span space, giving every seat in the house an excellent view of the ice rink and floor. This 75,000-sq.-ft. "high" ceiling bears on four massive "super columns" connected by two, 330-ft. long, 20-ft. tall, 200 ton trusses. Ten in-fill trusses 200-ft. long and ranging between 31 and 59 tons will complete the high roof section.

Once the super columns were raised and crews started work on the exterior concrete bearing columns, "it was a matter of the steel crews chasing the concrete crews around the arena," Schacherbaur said.

A "low" roof section will skirt around the high roof and bear on the structural exterior columns. Two, 220-ton cranes were simultaneously needed to lift the large trusses. A rubber membrane roof system caps off the project.

"It's a pretty complex roof structure because the high main roof only bears on four points, but it made the roof simpler to fabricate and erect," said project estimator Greg Peterson of Kansas City, Mo.-based Havens Steel. "Those four columns are massive, heavy columns, so when you tie in the low roof, the load gets distributed out to the concrete perimeter columns."

Owned by the city of Glendale and leased to Phoenix businessman Steve Ellman and the Arena Development L.L.C. group, the new arena promises to be a premiere place for NHL fans to catch the high intensity action, as well as a concert venue and multipurpose center. The Glendale hockey arena anchors a 224-acre site that will eventually feature millions of square feet of development. The arena will sit on 15.1 acres of a 60-acre footprint, with approximately 40 acres of on-grade asphalt parking lots.

The new arena sits across from the future Arizona Cardinals stadium, which is under construction. The hockey arena project, which is a construction manager at-risk contract, featured a guaranteed maximum price of more than $200 million. Another $25 million is budgeted for fixtures, furniture and equipment.

"The design team spent a lot of time making sure the facility is very adaptable to multiple uses," Schacherbaur said. "A lot of thought went into the acoustic system and there are also three configurations for a concert stage. The arena is also capable of a basketball set up."

Designers began with a working model that was proposed for a Scottsdale location, but after that site fell threw, some redesign was needed for the Glendale site.
Preliminary design work started in fall 2001, but really began in earnest in January 2002.

Crews started site work in June, pouring foundations and excavating for the hockey rink, which is 30-ft. below grade. Phoenix-based Buesing Corp. performed the foundation work, while Construction 70 of Phoenix excavated 225,000 cu. yds. of dirt.
Apache Pipeline of Phoenix also started on $30 million in utility work for future retail and other development on the 224 acre site.

"One of the more interesting aspects of the project design is aesthetics, because this project has to mesh with surrounding development," Boyle said. "The larger challenge with a building of this size and scale is making it fit with one- and two-story retail projects."

Lots of Concrete, Steel

The new arena uses more than 2,500 tons of structural steel, most of which is in the roof system. More than 32,000 cu. yds of concrete, or enough to build 5,333 residential driveways, will be used on the project. Perini Building Companies self-performed the concrete work.

"Any time you self-perform work, it's a double-edged sword," said Perini general superintendent Mike McLean. "Concrete represents 14 percent of the project, so it's a big undertaking. You like the control, but it creates a lot of coordination headaches."

The seat risers and seating are all constructed of precast concrete, along with some columns and raker beams in the arena. The precast seating allows for a quick and simple installation, according to Clint Calvert, vice president and general manager of Phoenix-based Coreslab Structures.

"Stadium jobs are not straightforward jobs," Calvert said. "They take an awful lot of coordination and an awful lot of design work to make them turn out well."

Crews from Consolidated Rebar will tie approximately 4,500 tons of rebar, some of which is 2-in., No. 11 rebar, in just eight months.

"It's a pretty intense job. It's almost like a design-build project," said Scott Murin, vice president of Consolidated Rebar of Phoenix. "The design is barely ahead of construction, and actually construction has caught the design a few times."

Keeping it Cool

A 400-ton, variable drive chiller unit will provide comfort cooling for offices, concessions and other areas when the arena is not in use, while two, 1,000-ton constant volume units will keep the arena cool during events. Four large air handlers, capable of moving a 110,000 cfm each through 8-ft. ducts, will supply the bowl.
Another 200 fan coil units will service the rest of the building, which features more than 600 plumbing fixtures. Builders said the design exceeds the ratio of bathrooms required by city and state code.

"It's been very challenging to fit 10 lbs. of stuff into a 5 lb. bag," said John Anderson of University Mechanical and Engineering Contractors. "Ceiling heights are very low, so space is at a premium. This building alone has 30 miles of pipe."

The ice floor also features miles of piping carrying chilled brine water that freezes the concrete. Water is applied with a hose, gradually building up layers of ice.

In the arena's interior, architects called for a variety of finishes, with a utilitarian finish for concourses and events levels, some nicer finishes in the public areas, and some high end finishes in the 88 luxury sky boxes with 16 seats each. A club lounge at the suite level will hold another 500 people. In addition to the club lounge, there will be 10 concession stands and a commissary for centralized food preparation.

"There's a lot of work taking place out here," Schacherbauer said. "It's nice working on the arena because it is the sparkplug that is going to make this development work. This is going to be the centerpiece."