CSU stadium build on time, on budget

Inclement weather prevented Joe Parker from leading a planned tour of the on-campus stadium’s construction Monday evening, but the CSU athletic director told the Stadium Advisory Group that the project is “on time and on budget.”

The steel structure on the west side of the stadium, which will house the indoor club seating and press box, is up to what project manager Doug Wilson called the “600 level,” one level below its full height more than 120 feet above grade level. Concrete is being poured into the precast structure that will form the rows of seating, and many of the vertical elements that will make up the alumni center, undergraduate advising area and general classroom space on the east stands already is in place.

The $220 million stadium and adjacent $18 million academic space is scheduled to open in time for the 2017 football season. The stadium, one of six major projects currently under construction on the Colorado State University campus, will have 36,000 seats and total capacity of 41,000, officials have said.

DEVELOPMENT:  100+ units of student housing planned near stadium

Wilson, the project manager for Icon Venue Group, told the Stadium Advisory Group at its last meeting in March that the basic structure should be completed by February 2017, with internal work on walls, furnishing and fixtures to be worked on into the summer.

“Things are moving along real well on site,” Wilson told the group Monday night during a meeting in the Lory Student Center. “Material deliveries and everything are showing up on time. We seem to be making good production, so everything’s looking good moving forward.”

Parker had hoped to give the advisory group, made up of residents of nearby neighborhoods, business owners and community leaders, a tour of the construction site but had to scrap those plans because of safety concerns following heavy rainfall throughout the day.

He was clearly excited, though, about the progress being made on the controversial project.

“It’s beginning to shape up much like a stadium, and it’s pretty clear now that it’s a football stadium,” Parker said afterward. “Every day we’ll see additional progress towards completion.”

NAMING:  $20 million gift keeps Sonny Lubick's name on stadium

One of the advisory group’s roles is to discuss the impact the stadium, during construction and beyond, will have on the surrounding area, and concerns voiced Monday included parking in the Sheely neighborhood just across Prospect Road, and the impact a proposed bicycle and pedestrian underpass at Elizabeth and Shields streets will have on businesses on the west side of that intersection.

Frank Johnson, a resident of the Sheely neighborhood, asked the advisory group to suggest the city increase fines for parking without a permit on game days and make sure tow trucks and police officers are visible in the area to deter illegal parking.

Colin Gerety, owner of the Momo Lolo Coffee House on West Elizabeth Street, said the underpass would be the “death knell” for small local businesses like his and believes the only reason it’s being pushed is to help clear out game-day traffic from the new stadium.

CSU FOOTBALL:  Oregon State among CSU's first opponents at new stadium

Campus planner Fred Haberecht told Gerety the university and city have been discussing ways to make that intersection safer for the past 15 years, well before talk of building a new stadium on campus began and noted that project would be discussed by CSU officials and city traffic engineers during a neighborhood meeting May 25 at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1709 W. Elizabeth St.

The Stadium Advisory Group agreed to discuss the underpass again at its next meeting, which it agreed to reschedule for June 13 instead of June 20 to accommodate an internet conferencing call with officials at the University of Minnesota about how they handled neighborhood impacts when that school built a new stadium that opened in 2012.

Haberecht said he’ll have additional information concerning possible improvements to access to campus to share with the group at the June meeting.

Follow reporter Kelly Lyell at twitter.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news.