Smith Entertainment Group released a video Wednesday morning showing the progress of the Delta Center renovations.
According to SEG, crews of about 350 people have put in a collective 32,000 hours in the demolition phase.
Engineers have removed pieces of concrete and steel to make room for an expanded playing surface, which will be 12 feet longer at each end. They are also making room for a new parking structure, which will hold about 450 vehicles.
By the end of the summer, there will no longer be any obstructed-view seats in the lower bowl for hockey games. The upper bowl will continue to have obstructed views until the next phase of construction.
When all phases of construction are complete, the seating capacity for hockey will increase from 11,131 (plus 4,889 obstructed-view seats) to approximately 17,000. Basketball capacity will jump from 18,206 to nearly 19,000.
This will be done by implementing a retractable seating system that can sit at one height and length for basketball and another for hockey.
“It’s definitely unique in the sense that most of these two-sport buildings are hockey first and then basketball,” said Larry Lippold, the architect heading the project, in an April press conference. “In this case, we’re really maintaining both sports first, equally.”
Lippold stated that basketball spectators will not notice a difference, but hockey spectators will.
Other renovations in the works, whether in this phase of construction or in the future, include:
- A 12% increase to bathroom capacities
- New premium spaces on Level 1
- Four new dehumidifiers
- Remodeling the upper bowl to improve sight lines
- Implementing an east-facing main entrance and plaza
- Redesigning the existing plaza and concourses
The project is intended to take three summers to complete. SEG will continue providing updates throughout the offseason.
