Denton: Amway Center Topping Off Ceremony
By John Denton
November 5, 2009
Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Magic and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
ORLANDO – With thoughts of Wednesday’s runaway victory still fresh in his memory and visions of a grand future ahead as he visited the new Amway Center on Thursday, Orlando Magic president Bob Vander Weide marveled at the momentum the franchise has in its grasp.
The on-court product has never been better what with the Magic possessing one of the NBA’s best players in Dwight Howard, a roster that is as deep as any in franchise history and a sparkling 4-1 record.
And off the court, the Magic, City of Orlando and Orange County leaders celebrated another historic milestone on Thursday by raising one of the final steel beams on the dazzling Amway Center, which is on budget and on schedule to open in the fall of 2010.
As Vander Weide noted, Thursday’s ``Topping Off’’ ceremony for city and county leaders was a truly grand event. But he truly hopes the next time Magic leaders and city and county officials convene in Amway Center, they will be there to raise a NBA championship banner to the top of the new 875,000-square-foot facility.
``I don’t know whoever coined the phrase, `Timing is everything,’ but it is everything to us,’’ Vander Weide said. ``We have a good, young club on the floor and if we stay healthy we should be able to be competitive for a number of years.
``Then, you look at this whole arena process and we’re so excited,’’ Vander Weide continued. ``We worked at it for eight or nine years and learned as much as we could. We have an on-schedule, on-budget building in a down economy that has been a real rallying point for the workforce in this community. All of that parlays into a really good feeling on the court and a really good feeling in the community.’’
There was certainly a feel-good vibe to Thursday’s ceremony inside the state-of-art facility in downtown Orlando. In a year’s time, the mammoth building that is nearly three times the size of Amway Arena has taken shape. The traditional ``Topping Off’’ ceremony signified the conclusion of the four-month steel construction of the 3,000-ton roof. The 380-foot-long, 150-ton steel trusses were fabricated in Orlando and involved 200-plus local steel workers.
Magic COO Alex Martins, the team’s leader in the arena project, said the roof’s facility is expected to be fully enclosed by the end of December and the exterior of the building should be completed by late January. Martins said Central Florida residents can also take pride in the fact that the facility will be the first new, indoor sports arena in North America that will be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified.
Like Vander Weide, Martins is impressed with how the synergy of the Magic’s on-court product has meshed with bright future presented by the franchise moving into a sparkling, new $380 million arena.
``It’s all coming together at the same time and that takes a lot of good fortune and hard work for it to happen,’’ Martins said. ``I’d like to think the team we put into place four years ago to deal with all of these issues – whether it was (General Manager) Otis Smith and his staff on the basketball side or the staff we put together to secure, build and operate this facility – we’ve all been working real hard to make it converge at this point. Hopefully, the product on the floor and having the most modern facility in North America will be great for everyone. And, in a tough time in the economy, we’re helping out construction industry that otherwise had a lot of businesses that might have been out of business.’’
The new facility is breathtaking in what it will provide for patrons in the future. It will seat 18,500 for NBA games, 19,700 for center-stage concerts, 20,000 for NCAA basketball games and 17,200 for hockey/arena football events. There are 60 private, low-level suites, 1,400 club seats and 68 lodge boxes (328 seats). And the technology provided by Harris Corporation will make the facility state-of-the-art with the 1,100 screens of HD content.
Another feature that truly makes the facility unique is that nearly all of the amenities will be available to all patrons entering the building. Regardless of the price point of the ticket, fans will have access to the outdoor patio overlooking Church Street, full service restaurants on the club level overlooking the court and fan and children zones.
``Heretofore, many of these buildings that were constructed around the country were built for the premium patron. That’s just not the way we wanted to build this building,’’ Martins said. ``We wanted to build this for our entire fanbase. Those amenities that were historically just there for suite holders or club-seat holders will be there now for every level of ticket buyer. Whether you are a $5 ticket-buyer or a $500 ticket-buyer, these features will be available to everyone.’’ But the biggest immediate impact of the new facility has been on the jobs that it has provided for the area’s struggling construction industry.
On a peak day, as many as 1,000 workers are at the facility working construction jobs. Minority and women-owned business have been some of the biggest beneficiaries of that work with 149 of those businesses being awarded $91 million worth of contracts. Thirty-five percent of the work being done on the facility is being handled by minority and female-owned businesses.
Fifty-seven percent of the workforce employed at the facility are either minority or women construction workers. There were 218 employees hired out of the City of Orlando’s Blueprint Office, a program designed to assist out-of-work residents. And another 104 employees came from the Parramore district, the area where the arena is located.
Said Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer: ``People who would have otherwise been unemployed are hard at work on this facility. And there’s not another public project in the country right now that employees more minority and women than this one. We all can be very proud of that.’’
Considering how the Magic’s on-court product has blossomed and how Central Florida’s events center has taken it magnificent shape, clearly there’s plenty to be proud of these days.
John Denton writes for Orlandomagic.com. His Orlando Magic ``Behind the Scenes’’ segment can be heard on ESPN 1080 AM on Thursday at 5:05 p.m. Submit questions to John for his ``Ask J.D.’’ mailbag feature that will appear every Friday at AskJD@orlandomagic.com.
By John DentonNovember 5, 2009
Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Magic and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
ORLANDO – With thoughts of Wednesday’s runaway victory still fresh in his memory and visions of a grand future ahead as he visited the new Amway Center on Thursday, Orlando Magic president Bob Vander Weide marveled at the momentum the franchise has in its grasp.
The on-court product has never been better what with the Magic possessing one of the NBA’s best players in Dwight Howard, a roster that is as deep as any in franchise history and a sparkling 4-1 record.
And off the court, the Magic, City of Orlando and Orange County leaders celebrated another historic milestone on Thursday by raising one of the final steel beams on the dazzling Amway Center, which is on budget and on schedule to open in the fall of 2010.
As Vander Weide noted, Thursday’s ``Topping Off’’ ceremony for city and county leaders was a truly grand event. But he truly hopes the next time Magic leaders and city and county officials convene in Amway Center, they will be there to raise a NBA championship banner to the top of the new 875,000-square-foot facility.
``I don’t know whoever coined the phrase, `Timing is everything,’ but it is everything to us,’’ Vander Weide said. ``We have a good, young club on the floor and if we stay healthy we should be able to be competitive for a number of years.
``Then, you look at this whole arena process and we’re so excited,’’ Vander Weide continued. ``We worked at it for eight or nine years and learned as much as we could. We have an on-schedule, on-budget building in a down economy that has been a real rallying point for the workforce in this community. All of that parlays into a really good feeling on the court and a really good feeling in the community.’’
There was certainly a feel-good vibe to Thursday’s ceremony inside the state-of-art facility in downtown Orlando. In a year’s time, the mammoth building that is nearly three times the size of Amway Arena has taken shape. The traditional ``Topping Off’’ ceremony signified the conclusion of the four-month steel construction of the 3,000-ton roof. The 380-foot-long, 150-ton steel trusses were fabricated in Orlando and involved 200-plus local steel workers.
Magic COO Alex Martins, the team’s leader in the arena project, said the roof’s facility is expected to be fully enclosed by the end of December and the exterior of the building should be completed by late January. Martins said Central Florida residents can also take pride in the fact that the facility will be the first new, indoor sports arena in North America that will be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified.
Like Vander Weide, Martins is impressed with how the synergy of the Magic’s on-court product has meshed with bright future presented by the franchise moving into a sparkling, new $380 million arena.
``It’s all coming together at the same time and that takes a lot of good fortune and hard work for it to happen,’’ Martins said. ``I’d like to think the team we put into place four years ago to deal with all of these issues – whether it was (General Manager) Otis Smith and his staff on the basketball side or the staff we put together to secure, build and operate this facility – we’ve all been working real hard to make it converge at this point. Hopefully, the product on the floor and having the most modern facility in North America will be great for everyone. And, in a tough time in the economy, we’re helping out construction industry that otherwise had a lot of businesses that might have been out of business.’’
The new facility is breathtaking in what it will provide for patrons in the future. It will seat 18,500 for NBA games, 19,700 for center-stage concerts, 20,000 for NCAA basketball games and 17,200 for hockey/arena football events. There are 60 private, low-level suites, 1,400 club seats and 68 lodge boxes (328 seats). And the technology provided by Harris Corporation will make the facility state-of-the-art with the 1,100 screens of HD content.
Another feature that truly makes the facility unique is that nearly all of the amenities will be available to all patrons entering the building. Regardless of the price point of the ticket, fans will have access to the outdoor patio overlooking Church Street, full service restaurants on the club level overlooking the court and fan and children zones.
``Heretofore, many of these buildings that were constructed around the country were built for the premium patron. That’s just not the way we wanted to build this building,’’ Martins said. ``We wanted to build this for our entire fanbase. Those amenities that were historically just there for suite holders or club-seat holders will be there now for every level of ticket buyer. Whether you are a $5 ticket-buyer or a $500 ticket-buyer, these features will be available to everyone.’’ But the biggest immediate impact of the new facility has been on the jobs that it has provided for the area’s struggling construction industry.
On a peak day, as many as 1,000 workers are at the facility working construction jobs. Minority and women-owned business have been some of the biggest beneficiaries of that work with 149 of those businesses being awarded $91 million worth of contracts. Thirty-five percent of the work being done on the facility is being handled by minority and female-owned businesses.
Fifty-seven percent of the workforce employed at the facility are either minority or women construction workers. There were 218 employees hired out of the City of Orlando’s Blueprint Office, a program designed to assist out-of-work residents. And another 104 employees came from the Parramore district, the area where the arena is located.
Said Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer: ``People who would have otherwise been unemployed are hard at work on this facility. And there’s not another public project in the country right now that employees more minority and women than this one. We all can be very proud of that.’’
Considering how the Magic’s on-court product has blossomed and how Central Florida’s events center has taken it magnificent shape, clearly there’s plenty to be proud of these days.
John Denton writes for Orlandomagic.com. His Orlando Magic ``Behind the Scenes’’ segment can be heard on ESPN 1080 AM on Thursday at 5:05 p.m. Submit questions to John for his ``Ask J.D.’’ mailbag feature that will appear every Friday at AskJD@orlandomagic.com.
