Arena Gets Floored Concrete ‘Artists’ Set The Stage For Completion Of New Facility
(From For the Record, Saturday, June 3, 1995): Construction workers who floored the new Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena on Thursday were Garco Construction employees. A Friday story named the wrong employer.
Pouring a concrete floor wouldn’t seem that intricate or scientific. But when the slab will be used to support hockey players, monster trucks and high-priced magicians, the process becomes part chemistry, part sculpting.
Blue-collar artists in hard hats and T-shirts poured 1.6 million pounds of concrete into the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena early Thursday, clearing the last major construction hurdle.
The 12,000-seat arena just south of the old Coliseum is set to open in mid-September.
“We’ve always said, ‘If we build it, they will come,”’ said Amy Brown, the arena’s assistant general manager. “Well, we’ve about built it. This is a huge milestone.”
More than 50 workers with Central Pre-Mix Concrete Co. arose before the sun to bury the arena’s bowels in eight inches of concrete.
The slab now entombs 11 miles of steel pipe, nearly eight miles of reinforcing steel called Rebar, thick insulation, plastic sheeting and sand.
Workers waited a few hours for the concrete to harden just enough and then tiptoed around with hand-held and mechanized smoothing trowels.
Other crews used shovels to knead and smooth concrete that was shot from a tube attached to a crane-like truck.
“It’s damn hard work, back-breaking work,” said project manager Jerry Schlatter, who oversees construction for the Spokane Public Facilities District.
“These guys are artists,” added assistant project manager Jim Bohn.
The $44.8 million arena - on time and on budget - replaces the neighboring Spokane Coliseum, which will be leveled for parking space this month.
For 41 years, the pink Coliseum was Spokane’s sporting and entertainment venue. It will meet the wrecking ball in about two weeks.
“This is fabulous, a great facility,” said George Share, a longtime season ticket-holder for Chiefs’ hockey games. “It’s a lot better than the Pink Panther next door.”
The concrete gig was a meticulous operation.
Instead of pouring it in sections bordered by wooden slats known as relief joints, the arena floor is one large, seamless sheet of concrete.
A chemical called Chem-Comp was added to the mix to compensate for shrinkage. When concrete shrinks, it cracks.
The floor will be flooded for two weeks to keep it moist and prevent it from curing - or drying - too quickly.
Arena executives hosted tours Thursday for city officials and businesses that are plunking down $87,500 to $125,000 over five years for luxury suites.
Although the arena will draw the full range of contests and entertainment acts, it’s primarily a hockey rink. The Spokane Chiefs have 36 regular season dates for 1995-96.
“People are in for a shock when they see how nice it is inside,” Chiefs owner Bobby Brett said. “This is as fine a facility in a secondary market as there is in America, and I’ve seen a lot of facilities.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo