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IFMA members toured the facility August 16 as
guests of Turner/Barton Malow Sports, Miles-McClellan Construction
Co., construction managers for the $150 million, 800,000 square-foot-facility
that includes the arena, practice rink, and office and retail
space.
Guides for the tour were Turner Construction
Co. employees Andy Patterson, project engineer; Gary Nuss, IFMA
chapter president and project manager in charge of some $25 million
in road and street infrastructure in that area; Steve Ruane and
Mike Pione, assistant engineers; and Belenda Slay, account executive
for the Blue Jackets.
In all, some 77 contractors and 4,000 individuals
had hands in construction of the facility. The names of all involved
are being engraved on a plaque that will be hung in the arena
area.
The tour began in the loading dock, a short distance
from center ice. And as the 40-50 persons stepped into the arena
proper, they were greeted by the first trip-related quip of the
day: "Won't all this plywood (which covered the playing area)
be a little rough for the hockey players?"
As workers scurried around the various seating
levels and the giant scoreboard awaited hoisting to the ceiling,
Patterson declared the facility 99 percent complete and on time
for pre-season and season activities.
The arena opens September 9 with a performance
by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill that has been sold out since tickets
first went on sale a few weeks ago. The first hockey game is a
pre-season event September 20 against the Detroit Red Wings. The
first regular season home game is October 7 against the Chicago
Blackhawks.
The arena is 685,000 square feet and has seating
for 18,500 for hockey, 19,500 for basketball, and up to 20,000
for concerts. There are 52 luxury boxes --one known as the McConnell
suite for the team's owner John McConnell-- and 26 loge boxes.
These areas, including the McConnell suite, were
somewhat like the Marinova suites when chapter members toured
there earlier this summer: Not quite ready for occupancy or to
afford a good picture of the amenities they will offer when the
facility opens.
Two 80-foot towers, each housing four platforms
of special seating anchor the arena's stage end, and seating and
outstanding sight lines are available on all levels. There are
15,000 parking spaces, including a 560-space attached garage,
within a 5-10-minute walk of the red-brick building.
Main entrances to the facility are at the southwest
and southeast where team logos, a glass-enclosed atrium, and open
lobbies and concourses will greet visitors and enable them to
feel they are part of the facility.
The floor or playing area is about 25-inches thick
and composed of:
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Twelve inches of sand --about 52 dump
trucks full-- and a heating system.
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A plastic vapor barrier.
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Eight inches of reinforced concrete
with coolant pipe.
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A top layer of ice that is about 1 and
¼ inches thick.
The concrete slab is 85 feet wide and 200
feet long, enough concrete to pave a two-mile sidewalk. This is
about 400 cubic yards or 40 truckloads of concrete poured eight
inches thick.
The iron pipe for coolant is 1 and ¼-inch-diameter
steel that carries a brine coolant. There are 50,000 feet of pipe
(about nine miles) with 2,400 welds.
The tour wound near and through some of
the so-called restricted areas that will not be open to visitors
once the facility is up and running. Among these is a "star dressing
room with removable sink."
"The removable sink feature was added because
one star simply refuses to use a sink where someone's hair has
been washed. He is so vain," Patterson said without revealing
the star's name.
The group was unable to get a look inside
the Blue Jackets' dressing room despite the repeated pleadings
of Jim Pietro of Koroseal Wall Coverings. Nevertheless, Pietro,
who said he was returning the next day for a seat license and
season ticket, seemed to think he might have found a way to resolve
his problem.
You'll have to ask him if he did.
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Bill Keesee, a Columbus journalist whose career
spans more than 40 years, is now writing for the IFMA Newsletter
on the Central Ohio Chapter's Web page.
The current assignment is for a minimum of four
articles monthly, including coverage of the monthly chapter event,
stories on a selected chapter member and a sponsor member/company,
and a compilation of committee reports and activities. He also
will write or assist members with any article or idea they need
to submit for the Newsletter or for other sites on the Web page.
Keesee, a member of the public affairs staff at
the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) in Columbus,
worked on newspapers in West Virginia, Virginia, and Ohio. He
was reporter, night city editor, city editor, and metro editor
with the Columbus Citizen-Journal from 1961 until it closed in
1985.
He also was on the Columbus staff of the late
Congressman Chalmers P. Wylie until he retired in 1993, and has
been at DFAS-Columbus since.
You may contact Keesee at (614) 693-6702 (O),
(614) 693-6616 (O-Fax), (614) 794-2359 (H), keeseews@gateway.net,
or by mail at 161 Sandstone Loop W., Westerville, Ohio 43081.
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If you don't think recruiting pays off for IFMA,
ask Vickie Simons, who asked Mark Haberman.
Haberman, assistant executive director for the
Ohio Building Authority (OBA), was involved with the construction
of the Riffe Center in downtown Columbus several years ago when
he met Simons, who was (and still is) working for NBBJ, designers
of the center.
"Vickie recruited me," Haberman said. "She invited
me to a couple of IFMA chapter functions and I decided in 1991
to join."
Since then Haberman has been an extremely active
IFMA member. He is serving for a second time as co-chair of the
Community Services Committee, and has served a one-year term as
vice president and as president for two years.
Haberman stated that the two most significant
things that IFMA membership has to offer are "the educational
opportunities in the field of facility management and the networking
from both professional and social standpoints.
"There is so much made available to you educationally
through publications and the exchange of ideas and information
about such things as building, utilizing space, flooring, and
landscaping.
"You just have to ask people; you just have to
come to the meetings and get to know the other members."
In his position with the state, Haberman through
the OBA, is responsible for constructing, operating, and maintaining
state facilities, including such structures as the Rhodes Tower,
Riffe Center, and state office buildings in Cleveland, Akron,
and Toledo.
That's about 3.7 million square feet of building
space worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 million. Haberman
works out of the Rhodes Tower, the tallest building in downtown
Columbus.
A 1981 graduate of Capital University Law School,
Haberman gave up a career in law and a position with the Ohio
Department of Administrative Services to put on a hardhat and
go to work for the OBA in 1984.
"I shifted to the OBA because of the opportunity
it provided, and I enjoyed what was going on with regard to construction.
There was something different every day," he said.
In his community -northwest Columbus- Haberman
is a member of St. Michael School Board. He served as president
of the board for two years and as secretary for one. He also served
as vice-president of the St. Michael Home & School Association
for two years, is a member of St. Joan of Arc Parish and a charter
trustee of St. Joan of Arc Council, Knights of Columbus.
He and his wife, Alana, have three teenage daughters.
In his "spare time," Haberman is a team representative
to the Bishop Watterson High School Athletic Association where
two daughters, Whitney and Abby, are student trainers at the school
and it appears Whitney may pursue athletic training as a career
when she enters college next fall. His youngest daughter, Bayley,
is an eighth grade student at St. Michael.
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Ronald L. Geese, president and chief executive
officer of Continental Office Environments, has fashioned a
successful blend of business and community service.
For nine years as president and CEO, Geese has
been responsible for the day-to-day operations of a $100 million
furniture distribution company with offices in Columbus, Pittsburgh,
and Indianapolis.
Geese joined Continental Office Furniture in
1970 when the family-owned office supply business, the John
W, Geese Co., was purchased by Continental.
And during this time, Geese served two terms on
the Dublin City Council and the Dublin Planning and Zoning Commission.
He also is a member of the Dublin/Worthington Rotary Club, a
member of the Dublin and Columbus Chambers of Commerce, past
member of the Board of Junior Achievement of Columbus, and last,
but no means least, a member of IFMA.
In 1992, Geese was honored as Dublin's outstanding
citizen of the year. He is currently president of the Development
Board at Columbus State Community College.
Continental Office is the largest office furniture
resource in the midwest, and has partnered with businesses throughout
that area to create work environments that are effective extensions
of their organizations and constructive assets to the way they
do business.
The company has multiple sites throughout central
Ohio and Indiana, including the Learning and Resource Center
in Columbus, an evolutionary facility showcasing hundreds of
furnishings in active work environments; the warehouse and distribution
center; and The Galleries in Columbus, featuring office furniture
delivered in a simple, quick and affordable way.
The company has a similar resource center in Indianapolis
and will open a third in Pittsburgh in 2001.
Geese is responsible for the company's furniture
division, contract furniture division, environment division,
Continental move, and Continental Galleries.
Geese was graduated in 1968 from The Ohio State
University with a bachelor of science degree in marketing. He
and his family reside in Dublin.
His proudest achievement is being the father of
and raising six children, three of whom graduated from Ohio
University, one from Denison University, one from Miami University
and one in her last year at Ohio University.
In addition to Geese, two other Continental employees
belong to the IFMA. They are Daphne Swayze, who serves as co-chair
of the chapter's Membership Committee, and Lin Smirniotopoulos.
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Richard T. (Rick) Lombardi, vice president and general manager
of Turner Construction Co. in Columbus, is definitely a man you
need to know.
This is especially true if you are thirsting for tickets to Ohio
State football or the Columbus Blue Jackets, or if you are seeking
a lofty, premier spot in Downtown Columbus to watch the colorful
and explosive Red, White, and Boom.
While Lombardi hopes to forestall any ticket rush by quickly
adding that he doesn't have a box or suite at these venues, he
admits he won't be sitting in the end zones.
Lombardi and Turner Construction are responsible for five major
construction projects in Columbus that will provide decades of
entertainment, employment, "domestic tranquility," income, and
pure enjoyment for residents and visitors to the central Ohio
area.
And four of these projects -renovation of Ohio Stadium, construction
of Nationwide Arena, Bank One expansion at Polaris, and the 27-story
Marinova condominiums-- are "coming on-line" early this month.
The fifth project, expansion of the Columbus Convention Center,
will be completed next spring. This includes 210,000 square feet
of additional exhibition space as well as additional meeting rooms
and public space. Turner built the original Convention Center
in 1990.
Without a moment's hesitation, Lombardi said the $187 million
renovation of Ohio Stadium has been the most challenging and personally
satisfying of the five projects.
"You're dealing with hallowed ground here, and it was a huge
honor to be entrusted with this challenge. People coming to the
stadium are going to see a dramatic change from last season…They
are going to be awed by the tranformation…and even though we're
still in the midst of major construction there, they are going
to love it, especially when they see what has been done with the
old south stands and the extension of the seats to the field,"
Lombardi said.
He added that the stadium will feature a state-of-the-art scoreboard
with the largest screen in college football. Lombardi said stadium
work is about two-thirds complete with construction of the luxury
boxes, new press box, and replacement of the remaining restroom
facilities and concession stands to get underway when this season
ends.
As Ohio Stadium opens so do the doors to Marinova on September
5, the Bank One addition of 1,200,000 square feet to its 800,000-square-foot
facility on September 8, and Nationwide Arena on September 9.
In addition to these projects, Lombardi has been involved in
a number of others since his arrival here in 1982. Under his leadership,
Turner has been responsible for construction of numerous structures,
including office buildings for Nationwide Insurance, Bureau of
Worker's Compensation, AEP building, and projects in Gahanna,
Hilliard, New Albany, and Pickerington.
During Lombardi's 18 years in Columbus, Turner has been recognized
as the premier builder of major projects in central Ohio. He came
to Columbus in his present capacity from Pittsburgh where he was
responsible for all marketing, estimating, and cost control functions
for that area.
Lombardi joined Turner in 1968 after obtaining a bachelor of
science degree in civil engineering at Princeton. His first position
was as a field engineer working out of the company's New York
office.
Turner Construction was founded in 1902 and operates throughout
the nation as a wholly owned subsidiary of The Turner Corporation
with headquarters in Dallas. Late last year, all of Turner's stock
was purchased by HOCHTIEF, AG, the largest construction company
in Germany, and is now the third largest construction company
in the world with a yearly volume of construction work that exceeds
$10 billion.
From a community standpoint, Lombardi has been active in the
Homeless Families Foundation as well as treasurer of several booster
clubs for sports in which his children participate. Professionally,
he is associated with IFMA and is a past president of both the
Associated General Contractors of Central Ohio and the state association.
He sees IFMA "as an outstanding group of people who are familiar
with our business. We share many of the same challenges, and (through
IFMA) we have an opportunity to talk about them, about how we
can solve them."
Lombardi resides in Dublin with his wife and four children.
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