Section A·Page 14
The University Daily Kansan
Monday, August 16, 1999
Press box nears completion, despite setbacks
Workers to finish by home opener
By Michael T. Rigg
sportswriter @kanan.com
Kansan sportswriter
A one-day worker walkout and necessary increases in funding were unforeseen roadblocks this summer along the way toward the construction of the University of Kansas' new press box at Memorial Stadium.
In order to avoid making its stadium a work in progress, the University will be forced to pay up to $300,000 to ensure that the construction will be completed on time.
Such measures are out of the ordinary in the state of Kansas, Bob Frederick, athletics director, said.
Walton Construction Company, a Kansas City, Mo., construction firm, will use the money to compensate for the use of additional workers needed to ensure the project's timely completion.
Frederick said the project would be completed by Aug. 31, with the exception of punch list items that were not vital to the
press box opening Sept. 11 for the Jayhawks' first home game against Cal State-Northridge.
"It's the first time it's happened in the state of Kansas for a construction project," Frederick said. "However, the box will have a completed look for it in time for the first game."
Walton Construction presented Fredrick a budget at the beginning of the summer that would have set the completion date back to Oct. 4, which would have caused the press box to be closed for three home football games.
Further complications arose Aug.4 when union workers on the project walked off the job for a day because of the employment of non-union painters.
"The painting contractors weren't union members, so some of the other workers on the project hung a sign up outside the stadium making everyone aware of the situation." Darren Cook, director of facilities, said. "When the union workers arrived that morning and saw the sign, they all went home for the day."
Walton Construction handled the matter internally, and the workers returned the next day.
The press box, which will include 36 new scholarship suites and a new media area,
will be three times the size it was last fall. Upon completion of the project's phase two, the total project will cost the University $26 million.
The other part of Phase Two, the new MegaVision board on the stadium's south side, will be fully functional for the Cal State-Northridge game.
The board officially will be unveiled Aug. 22 when the University will show two movies on the board as part of the football team's "Get Ready Rally."
"The video board is just about done," Cook said. "It's moving along quickly and smoothly."
The board was unveiled to the media as part of the team's media day Aug. 5. Photos of the board at media day are displayed on the athletic department's official Web site (www.jayhawks.org).
The University also will recover the running track at the stadium in October for about $178,000, which will return the Kansas Relays track event from a two-year hiatus. The new track will not affect the University's plan to lower 'the football field, remove the track, and replace the AstroTurf playing surface with natural grass, Frederick said.
"I it's just a matter of fund raising," he said. "We need to raise enough money to
As part of phase two of the renovation of Memorial Stadium, a MegaVision board was built on the south side of the stadium. The board will be unveiled at the "Get Ready Rally" Aug. 22. Photo by Christina Neff/KANSAN
build a new softball field, which will open the door for a new combined soccer and track stadium to be built in the softball field's place, which will lead to the removal of the track at Memorial
Stadium."
Both new stadiums will be near their present locations south of Anschutz Sports Pavilion and west of Oliver Residence Hall.
—Edited by Kelly Clasen
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