The BankAtlantic Center (formally known as the Broward County Arena and National Car Rental Center) is a formidable structure encompassing over 872,000 square feet on the edge of the Everglades in Western Broward County. The project also includes a 100,000 sqft underground parking garage making the project nearly a 1,000,000 in size.
The project broke new ground in a private / public arrangement of financing. The project was financed through the issuance of $137 million of tax free bonds as well as $47 million in taxable bonds. The uniqueness of this situation was the Developer's agreement to cover any costs in excess of these bonds. The $13.4 million yearly debt service will be paid off by $8 million in tourist taxes, $2 million in sales taxes and the rest coming from arena profits and investment income.
Breaking ground in October, 1996 and complete for the 1998 NHL Hockey season, the BankAtlantic Center was one of the fastest arenas ever built.
The arena was designed by Ellerbe Becket, a Kansas City architect with a history over 75 major sports arenas including the MCI center in Washington DC, the Rose Garden in Portland, the Fleet Center in Boston, the Tampa Ice Palace in Florida, the Marine Midland Center in Buffalo, the Kiel Center in St. Louis and the Gund Arena in Cleveland.
In June of 1996, Developers chose Centex Rooney Construction Company as the Construction Manager for the project. Centex Rooney brought over 65 years of Florida experience to the project as well as successes on many of Florida's and the nations most notable and successful buildings including over a billion dollars worth of Disney structures, airports, resorts etc. Centex Rooney added Huber Hunt and Nichols as a minority partner. Huber Hunt and Nichols is an Indianapolis based contractor with extensive sports arena experience. The combination of Centex Rooney's Florida building experience with Huber Hunt & Nichols Sports Facility experience proved to be a combination hard to beat.
The arena sits on over 130 acres of land and encompasses 7,523 parking spaces, 30 ticket windows, 6 food courts, 85 luxury suites, 228 men's bathroom facilities, 274 women's bathroom facilities, 14 elevators and 8 escalators. The arena can sit over 19,088 spectators for hockey, 20,184 for basketball, 21,070 for boxing, 19,148 for circuses, 14,037 for ice shows, 19,078 for indoor soccer and 18,311 for arena football. In addition the arena is host to various other events including gymnastics, concerts and seminars. An additional 5,980 square feet of meeting space as well as 13,595 sqft of restaurants are in use throughout the week for various meetings and events.
Fans gather at the arena on a 80,000 sqft plaza and enter the arena through a four story glass and stone atrium. Instead of a single concourse serving multiple levels, the BankAtlantic Center is served by four separate concourses. Architects also developed the arena with a unique triangular footprint that accommodates much wider corridors and large food service areas. These two factors contribute to the lack of congestion or confusion and make the experience of attending an event a pleasant one.
In the first year since the official opening on October 3, 1998, the facility has celebrated its one-millionth guest and has hosted 109 events, including 12 concerts by national touring artists. Among the featured performers were Celine Dion (with highest attendance of 20,614), Elton John, Andrea Bocelli, Rod Stewart, Neil Diamond, and the Rolling Stones. Added to the mix was the success of Lord of the Dance, Disney on Ice, WWF, WCW, Speedway on Ice and Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
BankAtlantic Center staff has conducted 82 changeovers, including ice hockey to indoor soccer, to concerts, to three rings for the circus and then back to hockey.
Boston Concessions Group, the Center's food and beverage concessionaire, has reported some impressive numbers, 63,000 or 8 miles of hot dogs have been sold to date. Approximately 319,000 beers, 300,000 soft drinks and 57,000 bottles of water have washed down 69,000 pretzels, 40,000 bags of peanuts, 32,000 bags of popcorn and 66,133 slices of pizza. "The unique design of the food court concept, has been the main reason for Boston Concessions exceeding its per cap expectations, while still being able to offer a wide variety of items," stated Sal Ferrulo, General Manager of Boston Concessions at BankAtlantic Center.
Time was of the essence during the design / construction process. The Panther's lease was about to expire at the Miami Arena. The arena was only beginning to be designed in the Summer of 1996 and yet needed to be ready for the beginning of the 1998 hockey season. That gave the architects and contractors only 24 months to design and build a 184.7 million dollar project. A typical arena this size would take 30 to 32 months to build.
In order to accelerate the schedule, CRCC took a different approach to arena construction sequencing. Most arenas are constructed from the outside in. That is, the structure is erected followed by precast seating then falsework is erected at "center ice." The roof trusses are then erected in place and the building closed in to allow finish trades to commence. Under CRCC's approach, the team erected the roof trusses and structural precast bowl concurrently, thus allowing interior finishes to commence at least three months earlier than typical.
Instead of hiring subcontractors and then negotiating the schedule with them, CRCC took the initiatives to published construction schedules to ensure an August 1998 completion. Subcontractor based their bids on these schedules which included 6 work days a week, 10 hour days. Only those contractors that demonstrated their ability to meet these schedules were hired
During the day, 10 trusses, each weighing close to 280,000 pounds, 360 feet long and 33' high, were erected in half sections. One half would be set on the "ring beam" by one crane while another crane placed the other half on the opposing "ring beam." Three brave iron workers, working 160 feet off "center ice," performed an "air splice." By connecting the truss halves in the air, workers were able to avoid the use of center ice falsework. This kept the ice floor free for cranes to erect the precast seating planks at night. This rare method of steel erection called for some serious specialists. CRCC brought in LPR Steel from Colorado. LPR has erected steel trusses in over a dozen arenas all without a fall related injury. LPR was required to create a "critical lift program." Each sling, choker and lift was calculated, checked and double checked. The loads on the trusses during erection would far exceeded the buildings final design loads. In all, the erections went off with out the slightest problems.
The BankAtlantic Center's developer made the commitment early on to involve as many small and disadvantaged business enterprises (SDBE) to participate in the project as possible. A voluntary goal of 30% participation by certified minority contractors was adopted by the Developer and Contractor. By working closely with the Broward County Division of Equal Employment and Small Business Opportunity, CRCC was able to achieve over 32.4% participation.
Involving this many SDBE contractors was not easy. Many of the contracts to be awarded were for specialty items such as ice floor, elevators, etc. Many of the contractors specializing in these items were publicly traded companies and none were considered small. In fact the electrical contract reached over $14 million dollars, yet to be certified as a SDBE contractor, you cannot do more that $7 million dollars worth of work a year. So a company small enough to qualify as a SDBE contractor was automatically to small to get bonding on the project.
Working closely with county agencies, CRCC developed a list of $78 million dollars worth of work that was available for SDBE participation. Working with the county's list of over 1,400 SDBE contractors, CRCC was able to identify and narrow down those contractors certified by the county, qualified to do the work, able to complete the schedule on time, bondable and yet still be priced competitively. These efforts paid off with over $25 million dollars of work awarded to SDBE contractors.
By utilizing a county purchase order program, purchases for materials that where made a permanent part of the arena were able to be made through Broward County. By the county issuing these purchase orders, the purchases would be exempt from state sales tax.. Throughout the project over $40 million dollars worth of items were purchased using this system. This represented a savings of over $2 million dollars to the Developer.
The project also participated in a "Developer Controlled Insurance Program" (DCIP). The DCIP, or "wrap up" collectively insured over 50 of the trade subcontractors. By participating in any savings resulting from losses less that a million dollars, the program had both moral /ethical incentive as well as monetary incentive to make the job a safe one. While numbers have not been totally tallied yet, it is apparent that gross savings in excess of $3 million will be realized.
During the project, Centex Rooney was approached by the "School to Work" program from Broward County Schools. Broward County Schools were searching for a way to make their math curriculum more "real world" and wanted to use the arena's examples of how math works to augment their curriculum. For several months, high school math teachers shadowed various tradesmen and managers seeing how math was used in their jobs. The goal was to create a curriculum using real work, Panther Arena problems. After their 4 sessions at the arena, the teachers returned for their "graduation" bringing one high school student with them to see what their teachers were up to for the last few months.
What the program accomplished was to make a great deal of the student interested in our vocation and think about the possibility of construction as their long term careers. It also helped the teachers reach the students who always had a hard time connecting the textbook to the real world.
With 45,000 cuyds of concrete placed, 4,500 tons of rebar and three million pounds of steel trusses on the roof, workers turned their attention to installing over a million square feet of drywall and a half a million concrete block on the floors below. While this was happening, other crews brought in 225,000 cuyds of fill material to create a 20' high berm around the front of the arena. During this period the work force peaked at over 800 workers. The berm made quite an impressive view while approaching the area and gave way for the 100,000 sqft parking garage constructed underneath.
The next big challenge came during the ice floor pour. Approximately 35,000 square feet of ice floor needed to be poured to exact flatness tolerances in one pour. Any depressions, bumps or slopes would dramatically effect the performance of the ice floor and the speed at which the ice could be frozen or thawed. The catch here was the presence of over 5 miles of cast iron pipe inside the slab carrying the 10 degree brine that would freeze the ice. Should the pour need to be stopped, a cold joint would develop and all 5 miles of pipe would need to be ripped out and replaced. The pour started on a Saturday, Valentines day weekend, 1998 and was completed with "Ff" ratings over 50.
With the two biggest challenges behind them, workers turned their attention once again this time to the 5,000 gallons of paint, 150,000 lnft of parking lot stripping, thousands of trees, acres of paving ...
On October 3, workers finally did relax as Celine Dion along with her replica of the bow of the Titanic, christened the arena in front of 20,614 fans, including the team from Centex Rooney.
Information Courtesy of Centex Rooney Construction, whom we thank.
New Florida Arena Bears Corporate Name
FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida
Saturday, July 11, 1998 (AP)
The Florida Panthers' new home will bear the name of National Car Rental Center, another entity under the umbrella of team owner H. Wayne Huizenga, a published report said Saturday.
The Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale said the rental car company's selection was confirmed by officials in Broward County, which owns the $212 million, 19,200-seat arena in suburban Sunrise.
Arena officials would not disclose the sponsor, but said a news conference would be held this week to announce the winner.
National Car Rental was acquired by Huizenga's Republic Industries in January 1997 for $2.3 billion. Republic also owns Alamo Rent A Car, Inc. which it acquired in 1996.
National would become the first rental car company to join the growing realm of arena sponsors. Other naming rights have gone to airlines and high-tech, banking and beverage companies.
Arena officials had hoped to land a non-Huizenga company with deep pockets. Instead, rights would go to a company controlled by the same man who owns the team that will play in the venue and co-owns the arena's management company.
Huizenga's Florida Panthers Holdings also controls the company that has been overseeing construction of the arena. Front Row Communications, which negotiated the deal, is part of Huizenga's empire as well.
"It's pretty newsworthy that the same individual who owns the team, owns the company that helped negotiate the deal and owns the company that will manage the arena buys the naming rights deal,'' said Dean Bonham, a Denver-based sports consultant who tracks and negotiates naming rights.
Phil Allen, Broward County's finance director, would not comment except to say the county will study any deal to make sure its value is consistent with similar deals around the country.
The county's agreement with the Panthers specifies that if naming rights are sold to a Huizenga company, the county has the right to approve the price to prevent it from being artificially low.
American Airlines will pay $42 million over 20 years for the right to put its name on the Miami Heat's new oceanfront venue, scheduled to open in early 2000 in downtown Miami.
The Panthers will hold training camp at the arena in September and open the NHL season there October 9, 1998 against Tampa Bay. Celine Dion will christen the arena with a concert October 3, 1998.
To be completed 1998. Architect: Ellerbe Becket, Kansas City, MO. The $212 million, 22,000 seat multi-purpose arena will be the future home of the NHL Florida Panthers.
"The Florida Panthers will no longer be
an endangered species, We finally have a home!"
"The voice was that of Panthers President Bill Torrey. The date was August 27th 1996. The reason was the unveiling of the architectual design of the soon-to-be constructed Broward County Civic Arena. Ground breaking ceremonies were November 8th, 1996 and when the construction is completed in time for the 1998-99 NHL season, South Florida will have an awesome family entertainment destination.
There will be 19,452 seats for Hockey; 88 Luxury suites; over 7,000 parking spaces; a total of 723 toilets and urinals, 3 1/2 times what building codes require; extra-wide concourses; and six food courts, all featuring indoor/outdoor seating, with two of them offering spectacular westward views of the Florida Everglades and magnificent sunsets.
Since 1993, the Florida Panthers have been playing in the Miami Arena, the smallest venue in the NHL. Beginning in the Fall of 1998, hockey fans, as well as circus lovers and concert-goers, will enjoy an entirely new experience when the state-of-the-art Broward County Arena opens its doors. The Arena will become the home of the Panthers Hockey Club.
"The Company has an agreement with Broward County, Florida to build this new arena. The Company also has a 30-year licence agreement to operate the Broward County arena. The operating rights to this arena will greatly enhance the Company's total revenue and cash flow.
"The arena will feature 70 luxurious suits located on two levels, four party suits, and 2,300 club seats. Food and beverage services include a fine-dining restaurant, two sports-themed bars and six major food courts, located both on the main concourse and upper concourse levels. "Additional revenue opportunities are anticipated as visitors and fans will be able to shop in a 5,400 square foot team store in the lobby. Additional retail space will be located on the main concourse and upper levels.
"The arena is centrally located and is easily accessible to the 4.5 million combined residents of Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties. In addition, the arena is less than a 90-minute drive from Naples, Florida, the hub of the state's growing west coast.
"In addition to being the Florida Panthers' new home, the arena will be a preeminent venue for concerts, ice shows, circuses and other family shows and events throughout the year."
New National Car Rental Center Arena
To Offer Unprecedented Home Ice Advantage
Sunrise, Fla - BankAtlantic Center, the new home of the NHL Florida
Panthers, offers everything a team looks for in a great hockey player: speed, grace, championship experience and team loyalty. As the Panthers prepare to open the season in their new home on October 9, here are a few of the building's unique attributes:
Speed -- Completed in 26 months, the BankAtlantic Center was designed and constructed faster than any other NHL arena in history.
Grace -- The elegant exterior has been compared to an opera house. In fact, popular artist Celine Dion will perform the first concert there October 3, 1998.
Championship Experience -- The BankAtlantic Center's architect -- Ellerbe Becket -- has designed arenas that have hosted the last two Stanley Cup Finals: Core States Center in Philadelphia (1997 Finals) and MCI Center in Washington, D.C. (1998 Finals).
Team Loyalty -- The unique "shoot-twice end" at BankAtlantic Center pushes screaming Panthers fans "in the face" of opposing players as they attempt to shoot on goal.
The BankAtlantic Center has been called a "model of accessibility" by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Besides hockey, the arena will accommodate indoor soccer, arena football,
boxing, and other special events.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND INTERVIEWS:
CONTACT: Stuart Smith,
Director of Communications at Ellerbe Becket
Image of BankAtlantic Center
Courtesy Ellerbe Becket
Photographed by Timothy Hursley
|
Image of BankAtlantic Center
Courtesy Ellerbe Becket
Photographed by Timothy Hursley
|
Directions
From West Palm Beach & Boca Raton: Take I-95 to SW 10th Avenue exit and proceed west to the Sawgrass Expressway.
FROM THE SAWGRASS EXPRESSWAY (I-869)
The Sawgrass Expressway begins near I-95 between Powerline Road and Lyons Road heading west. The Sawgrass Expressway then proceeds directly to the South toward I-595 after Coral Ridge Drive.
(South)
Stay in the far right 2 lanes and exit at the Oakland Park Boulevard Toll Plaza. Make a left turn onto Oakland Park Boulevard and proceed 1 block and make a right turn onto Flamingo Road. Proceed on Flamingo Road in either of the two right lanes for one
block and make a right turn at the traffic signal, which is Panther Parkway. The arena is 1/2 mile South on the right. Exit at Sunrise Boulevard and proceed to the 2nd traffic signal, which is Panther Parkway. Turn left at Panther Parkway and the arena is 1 mile on the left.
(North)
Proceed through the toll plaza and stay in the far right 2 lanes and exit to the right at the Pat Salerno Drive Exit directly into the Arena Parking lot.
FROM FORT LAUDERDALE
From I-595: From the east Exit at 136th Avenue. Proceed north on 136th Ave, which will eventually turn into Panther Parkway, which begins at 136th Ave and Sunrise Blvd. The arena is one mile north on the left. Stay in the 3 left lanes and make a left turn into the arena parking lot.
From I-75: (South)
Take the Palmetto Expressway or Florida Turnpike Extension to I-75 North to the Sawgrass Expressway Exit 10. Proceed through the toll plaza and stay in the far right 2 lanes and exit to the right at the Pat Salerno Drive Exit directly into the
arena parking lot.
From I-75: (North)
Follows signs for Sawgrass Expressway, West Palm Beach and Coral Ridge. Take Exit 10 towards the Sawgrass Expressway. Proceed through the toll plaza and stay in the far right 2 lanes and exit to the right at the Pat Salerno Drive. Exit directly in to the arena parking lot.
FROM INTERSTATE 95
Take I-95 North to I-595 West Exit at 136th Avenue. Once you exit the expressway make a right on 136th Avenue. Proceed on 136th Avenue, which will eventually turn into Panther Parkway, which begins at 136th Avenue and Sunrise Blvd. The arena is 1 mile north on the left. Stay in the 3 left landes and make a left turn into the arena parking lot.
PANTHERS MAY BE SOLD, BUT WILL STAY IN NEW ARENA
November 11, 1999
Copyright 1999 MediaVentures
The Florida Panthers might get a new owner, but local officials say the team will remain in the new BankAtlantic Center for another 30 years under terms of its
lease. Team owner, Wayne Huizenga, has put the team up for sale, but local officials say the team's lease prohibits a move regardless of the owner.
The team pays Broward County $3 million a year on the new arena's debt and $500,000 of its advertising revenue. The team also pays 20% of its profits above $14
million.
THE ULTIMATE SPORTS ROAD TRIP
By: Andrew Kulyk & Peter Farrell
| BankAtlantic Center Ranking by USRT |
| Architecture |  | 6.5 |
| Concessions | | 8 |
| Scoreboard | | 4 |
| Ushers | | 4 |
| Fan Support | | 4 |
| Location | | 4 |
| Banners/History | | 1 |
| Entertainment | | 7 |
| Concourses/Fan Comfort | | 8.5 |
| Bonus: Weather Board | | 2 |
| Bonus: Food Court | | 2 |
| Total Score |  | 51 |
January 18,1999 & January 21, 2002 - Of all the new arenas in the NHL and NBA, this has to be one of the prettiest. The National
Car Rental Center is the home of the Florida Panthers and the Arena Football Florida
Bobcats. Located in Sunrise just outside Ft. Lauderdale, the arena is built adjacent to the
Sawgrass Mills Mall and is surrounded on the other sides by expressways and the
Everglades. Suffice it to say this arena is pretty much in the middle of nowhere.
Getting to the Venue
A car is the only mode of transportation here and access to the arena is via I-595 to the
Sawgrass Expressway and heading north from there to the second exit. Signs will take you
right to the facility.
Outside the Venue
Once you arrive here, you are instantly dazzled by the ambience of the parking lot. Great
pains were taken to set the mood of this facility - from the lush Florida landscaping to the
blue and green mosaic pavement along the walkways to the cool looking umbrella shaped
light standards. Huge outdoor plazas serve up as intimate gathering areas. And chances
are whenever you are here the weather will range from just perfect to downright HOT!
As you walk inside, the view of the main entry pavilion has the look of a sweeping atrium.
Just past the ticket checkpoints you can look up and see rows of escalators taking you to
the upper levels. There are also view elevators in glass chutes for the ride up. Straight
ahead is Pantherland, the Panthers team store, and right above that the Budweiser
Terrace, a full service bar on the mezzanine level offering great views of the lobby and the
outdoors.
The Concourses
What we liked about the concourses here are two things - first, much of these areas are
carpeted, something they would never get away with in Buffalo or other cold weather
climates. Second, all the concession stands are grouped together in three distinct food
courts in each level, with condiment stations in the center of these courts. This means no
straight lines of people sticking out into the corridors. This makes the entire concourse
easy to navigate. We are amazed that such a basic design element has not been
incorporated into other new facilities.
The club level and suite level, sponsored by Lexus, has its own separate entrance just off
the main level. A premium restaurant called Stanley's offers fine dining with a view of the
playing surface.
The Bowl
The seats are all kelly green and match the building's motif. Balconies are lined with
stationary ad panels and dot matrix message boards. The center scoreboard is an eight
sided board with jumbotron video boards.
Banners/Retired Numbers
The Panthers actually won a conference championship within a short time after beginning
its existence, an accomplishment worth celebrating. A second banner, heralding "most
wins by an expansion team" is totally laughable and ridiculous. What a blight on what is
otherwise a terrific building. Such a banner is meaningless and denigrates the real
purpose of banner displays, which is to honor championships and retired numbers. We
can just imagine what the banner raising ceremony must have been like - these idiot fans
cheering wildly while this stupid bedsheet was raised to the heavens. The Panthers
should be ashamed of themselves!
Penalties, Assists, Hat Tricks
Assist - At one end zone rim proudly hangs a weatherboard showing the weather report for
the home and visiting teams. This night the report read "Sunrise - sunny 79 degrees....
Buffalo - bitter 10 degrees". (The high in Buffalo was 43 so obviously the Panthers were
playing fast and loose with the facts.) On our return visit, the temperature of the visiting
team, Montreal, was also exaggerated downward. Our message to you guys in South Florida is this - yes it gets cold in Buffalo. Yes we get snow, because that is what happens up north in winter. But here in Buffalo we have NEVER had to rush out to Home Depot to buy sheets of plywood to board up our windows. We have never had to stock up on candles and flashlights or fill water jugs with potable water. Can you folks make the same claim???
Hat Trick - A cool exhibit on the upper deck is a puck collection, where patrons, especially
those visiting from afar, can submit a puck with their logo to be added to the display. In
return, the Panthers will send you their puck. We enjoyed looking for logos from our area,
and plan to submit a puck or two from around here. Nice Job, Panthers!
Summary
This is one amazing building - a must see. It might have ranked as our best arena in the
NHL, except for the fact that this building is sandwiched between a mall, an expressway
and a swamp. Placing it in a cool downtown setting in Fort Lauderdale, with restaurants
and attractions in easy walking distance, would have really been the thing to do, especially
in a warm climate city. Nonetheless, we rank this new building among the elite NHL new
venues, and look forward to returning again and again.
