Spokane Arena On Schedule, Within Budget Officials Jealously Guarding Identity Of First Performer

It’s too early to buy tickets for the first concert - nobody’s even saying who the performer will be - but work on Spokane’s new arena is on schedule and within budget.

The building, which is scheduled to open in September, is about threequarters completed, project manager Jerry Schlatter said.

Electricians started pulling miles of wire through the walls and floors this week. Crews also started excavating for the ice rink.

The Spokane Public Facilities District ordered a hardwood floor guaranteed to survive years of high-school basketball tournaments.

And demolition companies are bidding to tear down the old Coliseum, a job expected to cost about $1.2 million, including $500,000 for removing asbestos insulation.

But arena officials jealously are guarding the identity of the first performer. Board member Jim Ray interrupted the arena’s marketing director when she appeared on the verge of naming names during a board meeting Tuesday.

“I really want to keep this close to the bloody vest,” he said.

Meanwhile, another public project, the Spokane Transit Authority’s downtown bus station, is under fire for cost overruns, delays and mismanagement. But speculation about the opening act is the only aspect of the arena getting much attention.

“I haven’t had anyone make any bad comments about the arena,” said board member Roger Paine. “In fact, I have to remind them” about the project.

So far, the arena board has approved 13 change orders, boosting the cost of construction from $32.5 million to nearly $32.9 million. That’s a 1.6 percent increase compared with 30 percent for the bus station.

“I figure a job like this is going to go somewhere between 1.5 percent and 3 percent” over the original estimate, said Schlatter.

Typical of the arena’s change orders was the $58,000 increase the board approved Tuesday. It included 20 changes, including the relocation of some fire sprinklers and the addition of speakers for one of the arena’s 12 suites.

Another change order coming up soon would add about $120,000 to the project cost, said Schlatter. He’s recommending the board approve a warming kitchen where a coat closet had been planned. The high cost reflects the difficulty of adding electricity and plumbing to a space where it wasn’t planned, he said.

Ray and other arena officials refuse to draw comparisons between their project and STA’s bus station. But there are some striking differences.

Schlatter is a professional construction manager who is paid $93,000 a year to make sure the project stays within budget.

Spending on the arena - including construction, property costs, furniture and other expenses, is limited to $44.8 million, an amount approved by voters. The board in 1992 reduced seating in the arena to stay on budget.

By comparison, construction of STA’s bus station is led by the agency’s own architect, who has no experience on such large projects. The STA board has approved 129 change orders.

“Public officials generally are not trained in construction management,” said Wes Luster, arena project manager for Garco Construction Co.

STA’s project was approved by its board, so taxpayers didn’t set a spending limit. The agency has a reserve account of $30 million; the bus station now is expected to cost $20 million.

Ray said his board has an advantage over the STA board, whose members are from the Spokane City Council, County Commission and councils in small towns. Building the bus station is just one of many responsibilities that come with those elected positions, he noted.

“We’ve got one job and one job only, and that is to get this thing up,” Ray said. “We’re arena builders.”