While I had Steve Simmerman and university project manager Drew Furry on the phone this morning to talk about the performance complex got a couple updates on other football-related projects, too.
Installation of lights in Ross-Ade Stadium — with an expected cost of $5.6 million — began in April and is progressing nicely.
“The work is aggressively being executed right now,” Furry said. “A lot of the foundation work is either in place or in progress. The deep foundation work is already complete. Contractor is now proceeding on some of the upper foundations, if you will. We’ve actually already received some of the fixtures. We’re temporarily stocking them. So things are right on target for completion in August and be ready for our first game Sept. 8.”
New turf was just installed in Mollenkopf — the facility closure notice will end Wednesday — to replace the warranty-expired old stuff. The surface is down, allowing the coaching staff to use it for upcoming camps. But it isn't the one that'll be the final product.
“We did have a glitch on the artificial turf in terms of coloration of the logos,” Simmerman said. “So we put a stop to the installation of the logos and the end zone writing and so on until we get that straightened out. But they did go ahead and finish the install, put all the infill in that needs to be there. We’ll hold the camps, they’ll come back in at the end of June and make a correction on the gold color and put that back together before fall camp is ready to proceed. So it ends up being a zero impact in terms of overall condition and use of the building.”
The coloring is sewn in — it’s colored fiber — so it’s not a paint-job kind of fix like it’d be on a grass field.
Installation of lights in Ross-Ade Stadium — with an expected cost of $5.6 million — began in April and is progressing nicely.
“The work is aggressively being executed right now,” Furry said. “A lot of the foundation work is either in place or in progress. The deep foundation work is already complete. Contractor is now proceeding on some of the upper foundations, if you will. We’ve actually already received some of the fixtures. We’re temporarily stocking them. So things are right on target for completion in August and be ready for our first game Sept. 8.”
New turf was just installed in Mollenkopf — the facility closure notice will end Wednesday — to replace the warranty-expired old stuff. The surface is down, allowing the coaching staff to use it for upcoming camps. But it isn't the one that'll be the final product.
“We did have a glitch on the artificial turf in terms of coloration of the logos,” Simmerman said. “So we put a stop to the installation of the logos and the end zone writing and so on until we get that straightened out. But they did go ahead and finish the install, put all the infill in that needs to be there. We’ll hold the camps, they’ll come back in at the end of June and make a correction on the gold color and put that back together before fall camp is ready to proceed. So it ends up being a zero impact in terms of overall condition and use of the building.”
The coloring is sewn in — it’s colored fiber — so it’s not a paint-job kind of fix like it’d be on a grass field.
