Getting a workout
From demolition to electrical, subcontractors make it a team effort

By C. Richard Cotton

Every morning, workers at the new FedExForum arena in Memphis line up to perform calisthenics and stretching exercises.

"It's really something to see some of those big old ironworkers out there doing jumping jacks," said Jimmy Skaggs, sales representative for Lone Star Industries, which supplied ready-mix concrete to the massive project.

Skaggs said that the exercise session is part of lead contractor M.A. Mortenson Co.'s safety program. He said stretching helps stimulate the workers and get them ready to perform. Most of the job's subcontractors take part in the program. Each wants to be a contributing member of the FedExForum team, whether it's by including their employees in the Mortenson exercises or by completing their share of the work on time and within budget.

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Hundreds of firms - ranging from single-proprietor trucking companies to national enterprises fielding scores of employees at the Memphis site - constitute the list of subcontractors participating in the construction of the $225 million arena that will be home to the National Basketball Association's Memphis Grizzlies.

An early contributor to the effort was L&T Construction Inc., a Hernando, Miss., company charged with excavation of the arena bowl and some demolition on the project. The company started work on June 12, 2002, and finished in January 2003, and project manager Adam Farrell said its contract finally totaled $6,050,915, up more than $1 million from its original $4.9 million because of change orders.

The first phase was demolition of the former Gibson Guitar Co. parking lot. That and other paved lots comprised nine acres of the 13.8-acre arena site. That completed, L&T tackled the removal of 400,000 cu. yds. of dirt.

"The ground was just horrible," Farrell said. "After we broke through the topsoil, it was basically just mud."

Talk on the jobsite was that the slushy ground was in the bed of an old creek that had once flowed through what is now downtown Memphis. Farrell said crews building the Memphis Redbirds Stadium, a minor-league baseball venue a few blocks away, dealt with the same problem several years ago.

L&T subbed construction of a temporary retaining wall halfway around the pit to Memphis-based Chris Hill Construction. The structure of H-piles and wood lagging stood 35 ft. tall at its highest point.

To combat water seepage, Griffin Dewatering Inc. of Houston was contracted by L&T to drill about 50 permanent wells, 60 ft. deep, around the upper perimeter of the pit.

"That was part of the bid scope and it worked very well," Farrell said.

One of the preconditions of building the arena, which is located near Memphis' historic Beale Street tourist mecca, was erosion control. Firms like L&T worked hard to stop dirt runoff into drains and streets.

After excavation, L.G. Barcus & Sons of Kansas City drilled 3,000 cast-in-place piles for the arena and its sprawling floor.

Skaggs' Lone Star Industries poured 45,000 yds. of concrete, primarily pumped through equipment furnished by Memphis-based Pumpco Inc. More than 5,000 tons of rebar was in place before the pours. Mortenson crews did most of the concrete work, said Allen Troshinsky, the firm's project manager.

After topping out the upper terrace level of the arena, W & W Steel of Oklahoma City furnished more than 6,000 tons of structural steel for the walls and dome-shaped roof. Erection was by Colorado-based LPR Construction.

The exterior continues the ambiance found in the Beale Street area, where the old buildings and the new Gibson Guitar Co. are traditional red-brick finishes. FedExForum designers stuck with a darkened red hue - four shades of it - for the arena façade. What is not bricked is covered by composite panels furnished by Nashville-based John W. McDougall Co. Inc. for $2.9 million.

One type, Alucobond (3,500 panels, 71,000 sq. ft.), constitutes the bottom portion of the round arena building.

"The color scheme is quite unique," said Tim Howell, McDougall general manager. "We had four different shades of red that had to be installed randomly. We wrote a computer program so it would come out random."

Morin panels will top the Alucobond and run around the top perimeter of the arena. A "halo" of perforated aluminum and stainless steel panels overhangs the building circumference and will feature lighting effects.

Those lights are part of the 6,000 to 8,000 lighting fixtures that will illuminate the event arena, its exterior, dozens of concession stands and restaurants, and myriad hallways, stairways and locker rooms.

"It's a big power system," said Jeff Richerson, secretary/treasurer and project manager for TAM Electric, which is in a joint venture with another Memphis firm, minority-owned Allied Electric, in an $8 million contract.

Incoming power through four 5,000-amp switchboards will be backed up by one 5,000-amp emergency power switchboard fed by a 1,750-KW emergency generator. Lights will be major consumers of that power.

"Sports venues are all about lighting," Richerson said. He added that the NBA's "harsh standards" for the playing floor are meticulously checked by meter-wielding league inspectors.

In the Grizzlies players' locker room, each of the 15 team members' 4-ft.-wide and 8-ft.-tall lockers are outfitted with the latest electronics: Sony Playstation 2, plasma television, DVD player, CD player, a safe, headphone jack, telephone and two light fixtures.

"There is a switch for the coach to kill all the power (to the lockers) when he wants to get their attention," Richerson said.

Irwin Seating Co. of Grand Rapids, Mich., will install nearly 16,000 seats in the arena for $3.3 million. Irwin's southeastern sales manager, Dave Southwell, said seats at all ticket-price levels would be virtually identical in comfort.

Inman Construction Co. is overseeing construction of the separate parking garage, administration building and outlying sitework in a joint venture with minority-owned Bricks Inc. Both firms are anchored in Memphis.

Inman's project executive, Pat Gaffney, said the components under his supervision are separate from the arena itself. He is charged with coordinating 70 subcontractors working on those pieces.

"We've kind of got the boring stuff, and Mortenson's got the glamour," Gaffney said, joking.

Mortenson's Troshinsky may have the glamor side of the project but he credited teamwork between his firm and the subcontractors for making the project a success.

"We've had no budget problems and we've had no sub problems," he added. "Nothing here has been unusual for a fast-track arena construction project."