Turner Construction: Orlando Events Center

Bringing the Magic┬áIn the summer of 2008, ground was broken on the $385 million Orlando Events Center, an arena that will be the new home of the Orlando Magic NBA team. Greg Andrews details the projectÔÇÖs progress and its impact on the community. The city of Orlando, Florida, has no shortage of major attractions. From the sprawling Disney World just to the west to Universal Studios, Sea World and a host of other theme parks and attractions, the city and its surrounding communities are a Mecca for tourists from around the world.  In recent years, the cityÔÇÖs leadership has also increasingly focused on creating an equally vibrant downtown for the people who call Orlando home as well as those who visit. When it opens in fall 2010, the new Orlando Events Center will fit that bill and be a key new component of a more active urban core that bustles with activity both day and night. The Orlando Events Center, with a capacity of more than 20,000 for many events, will be home to the cityÔÇÖs National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise, the Orlando Magic, as well as the Orlando Predators of the Arena Football League. It will also host concerts, college basketball tournament games, hockey games, rodeo bull riding, monster truck events and other traveling shows. The city hopes to be considered for hosting major annual events such as the NBA All-Star Game and college hockeyÔÇÖs Frozen Four as well, once the larger venue is in place. The Events Center will replace the existing Amway ArenaÔÇöa venue that is 20 years old and smaller than most comparable venues in similar-sized citiesÔÇöand is part of a larger sports- and arts-themed investment by the city that also includes a new downtown performing arts center and a renovation of the existing Citrus Bowl Stadium. All told, the downtown work carries a price tag of more than $1 billion, though the city has recently announced that it has delayed work on the football stadium for economic reasons.┬á The Events Center will continue as planned, however, and was named the top priority of the three projects. In fact, the owners of the Magic have been pressing the city for a new venue for several years, citing the relatively limited capacity of the existing arena and its ageÔÇöitÔÇÖs the fourth-oldest active arena in the NBA. As the centerpiece of the downtown effortÔÇöone official labeled it ÔÇ£the Triple Crown for downtownÔÇØÔÇöthe Events Center is meant to be both a visually striking statement about the cityÔÇÖs vibrant urban core and a symbol of the cityÔÇÖs commitment to sustainability, with the building seeking certification from the LEED program of the US Green Building Council. The arena will feature a 120-foot-tall glass tower at its main entrance and will be a striking mix of glass and steel on the exterior, to allow for the central Florida sun to enter the building without creating the need for additional cooling systems. The glass tower will be topped with an exclusive club and observation deck and will feature exterior lighting that can be altered to match the mood of events taking place in the venue and add vibrancy to the urban streets in the surrounding area.Designed primarily by HOK SportsÔÇöwhich has had a hand in developing dozens of major arenas, ballparks and stadiums in the US and around the worldÔÇöthe arena also had design assistance from a dozen local firms, many of them minority- and women-owned businesses. In fact, employing local firms has been a major thrust of the project, as has doing good for the Orlando community in other ways. In conjunction with the new arena, the Orlando Magic have agreed to build five community gymnasiums that will be open to the public for basketball and other activities.Turner Construction was tapped as the program manager and has gotten into the community involvement act as well. Turner held a six-week school of construction management to help the many local contractors on the job learn the latest information on workplace safety, lean construction and other best practices. Turner practiced what it preached, earning a safety award in early 2009 for the track record of the project during the first several months of active construction. ÔÇô Editorial research by Michael Fretwell┬á