by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
The four sweetest words in the language for the lead people on any construction project have to be, “We are on schedule.”
“Our target date is Nov. 17,” said Marty Mostyn. “We’re going to make it.”
Mostyn is senior project manager at the new Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, the $130 million building that will host a variety of entertainment and sports events.
The project is a joint venture of Turner Northside/Perry-McCall Construction, Inc.
Mostyn has been with Turner for 39 years and most recently worked at the company’s Nationwide Arena project in Columbus, Ohio. He came to Jacksonville in December 2001 as the new trolley lot was being built across from the arena at 301 A. Philip Randolph Blvd.
With 16,000 seats in four stories, the arena will play host to professional hockey, arena football and other contests. It is scheduled to be the site of the first and second rounds of the 2006 NCAA Basketball Tournament.
It will also become a regular stop for major performers touring the Southeast.
The building’s brick facade matches that of St. Andrews Church, right across the street, and the new Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville, just down the street. As part of the $2.2 billion Better Jacksonville Plan, it replaces Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
There was an average of 60 to 70 workers at the site when the arena’s foundation was being built in February 2002. That number has swelled to what is most likely today’s “peak” of more than 550 workers, Mostyn said.
“This job has gone well,” he said. “There have been no real surprises at all. Of course, we had to deal with the daily dose of rain, but we’ve been able to work around it.”
The busiest subcontractors now are electricians, plumbers and mechanical contractors, including those working in sheet metal. The greatest number of workers, more than 150, are now putting up drywall at the arena.
“Everybody’s busy, but those probably have the most people,” said Mostyn.
Two shifts are now operating at the arena. A crew of glaziers installs glass at the curtain wall during the day. Framing for the window walls is done in the evening.
The service level is on the first floor, containing backup house facilities, the main commissary, storage areas and mechanical equipment. That’s also the location for five team locker rooms and two luxury locker rooms for tournaments.
Performers will have access to four star dressing rooms. Two rooms will be available for road crews.
The main concourse is on the second level, where food service and rest rooms will be located. On the south side will be the club seats and a special club bar accessible to those who buy the premium seats.
Thirty-six luxury suites will be on the third level. There will be 12 seats in each suite, which will also come with cabinets, under-the-counter refrigerators, a sink and furniture. Party deck bar areas are also being built.
In each of the third-floor corners will be a double suite, which can be opened and made twice as large as the regular suites.
Visitors in one of the suites will only be about 100 feet away from the action on the arena floor.
The upper concourse, on the fourth floor, will contain more food service, more rest rooms and control rooms for sound and the scoreboard.
The inaugural performance for the grand opening is still being planned . . . or is one of the better-kept secrets in Jacksonville.
“The Special Events Office will work with the Mayor’s office on that,” said Lisa Rowe, head of communications with the Better Jacksonville Plan. “It will be something exciting to showcase the event. “