Fan or athlete? You can be either at the new ice arena going up in downtown Bloomington, Ill.

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With two ice-skating rinks under one roof, "we can have a hockey game going on in one area and open skating in another area," said Bill Johnston, president of Bloomington-based Johnston Contractors.

Johnston is the construction manager at risk, functioning as the general contractor. All construction work is being subcontracted.

"The city wanted to do that to give everyone an opportunity," Johnston said.

Ground broke in August for the $37 million, 185,000-sq.-ft. arena, recently named U.S. Cellular Coliseum after the Chicago-based wireless company signed a naming rights agreement. The L-shaped building set to open in spring 2006 will feature a 160,000-sq.-ft. main arena and a 30,000-sq.-ft. community ice-skating rink. The project includes an adjacent, three-level, 270-vehicle parking deck.

"It's a shot in the arm for the downtown area," Johnston said.
City Manager Tom Hamilton said the facility is part of the city's downtown redevelopment strategy.

"It will bring 400,000 to 500,000 people downtown per year," he added. "It's an entertainment venue that doesn't exist in this area."

In addition to offering shows and sporting events in the main arena, the facility's public ice rink also fills a community need for a figure skating and youth ice hockey facility, Hamilton said.

The city issued taxable general obligation bonds to finance the project. "Our intention is to pay those off from the sponsorship revenues and facility revenues," he added.

The arena's two biggest sponsors - U.S. Cellular and PepsiAmericas - will each pay $2 million over 10 years. The community rink will be named Pepsi Ice Center.

The owner, the city of Bloomington, is scouting a minor league hockey team that will call the arena home. In addition to figure skating and hockey, the main arena will also host football, trade shows and entertainment events in the town about 130 mi. southwest of Chicago. Bloomington and sister city Normal have a population of about 110,000 people.

In concert mode, the arena will seat 8,500 people, and for sporting events it will seat 7,000. A management group operates the main arena, and the community rink will be managed and operated by the city's parks and recreation department.

In early spring, about 40 workers are onsite for foundations, precast and steel work. By summer, the number will increase to about 200 workers daily for interior finishes and HVAC installation.

Design on a Slope

One driver of the design was the hilly site.

"The event level is below grade on the east end of the building and above grade on the west end," Johnston said. "The building was designed around the L-shape that the three lots formed."

The slope actually worked to the team's advantage.

"Most of the public will be entering at one level above the ice surface, the service areas and the dressing rooms," said Jeff Armstrong, project director for Stadium Consultants International, an architecture firm based in Toronto.

He added that this entrance brings visitors into the middle of the seating so they won't have to climb flights of stairs to get to their seats.

The Canadian firm, which has built over the last decade more than 100 sports projects in Europe, Asia and North America with Toronto parent Brisbin Brook Beynon Architects, designed the main seating area in a horseshoe shape.

"It maximizes the number of seats in a concert setting," Armstrong said. "If there is a ring of seats, the seats behind the stage get lost."

Inside the arena bowl, the video scoreboard will be on the open end of the horseshoe rather than center-hung.

"This saved money, so that rather than four small boards for a center-hung board, you can put the same money into one spectacular board on the end," Armstrong said. "And, there's no scoreboard to get in the way of concerts."

Getting Their Footing

The vacant three-block site at Front Street and U.S. Business 51 included debris from century-old buildings that had been previously demolished, silty soil conditions and some contaminated areas. Johnston Contractors removed a parking lot and the contamination and repositioned the soil.

"We cut into one area and brought it to another area and made it blend with the site," Johnston said.

His workers also relocated utility services to go around the site, including 1,400 ft. of electric service, a 36-in. sanitary sewer and some fiber optics.

Some of the adjoining streets were redone after installation of a new water main.

Next, more than 500 auger-cast piles, totaling more than 4 mi. in length, were bored 30- to 60-ft. deep.

"Since the soil conditions were not conducive to spread footings, we went with auger cast piles with grade beams," Johnston said. "It's more cost-effective than caissons."

Atop the poured-in-place concrete foundation, 20,000- to 30,000-lb. precast panels form the arena's exterior. The risers for the seating are also precast.

Retractable seating can be removed for concerts.

A 270-ton crane lifts the precast walls from the flatbed truck into place. The arena will have 1,685 pieces of precast concrete, including walls, support columns and beams, risers and parts of the roof. The exterior concrete will be stained beige. The precast floor planks will get a 3-in. concrete topping.

Johnston said using precast concrete helps maintain costs and stay on schedule. "We had more control over time, weather and cost using the precast system," he said. "We would not be where we are today if it were cast in place."

Next will be installation of the roof, which is built with 230-ft.-long structural steel trusses and a 20-ft. arch. The roof's metal deck will have a fabric covering. The building should be enclosed by the end of June.

"It's a standard dome shape," Johnston said. "We didn't try to come up with some new design, so that helps keep the costs down."

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