'So far, so good' for Rapides Parish Coliseum renovation

"So far, so good."

That a project official's description of how the Rapides Parish Coliseum renovation is proceeding after four months of work.

About 120 concrete piers have been driven 34 feet into the ground around the Coliseum, setting the stage for the foundation to be placed for the $22.9 million renovation project.

The project still has a long way to go — its projected completion date is in December 2016 — but it is basically on schedule, despite some rainy weather and having to change the type of piers used, said Adam Grunzinger, the project architect for Alliance Design Group of Alexandria.

The renovation work began in late April, and the project overall is about 10 percent complete, he said.

"We haven't had to make any cuts that would affect any of the usability of the building … So far, so good," Grunzinger said.

"We had a little setback with the piers, but they were able to keep working inside the arena … so I still think they're on their initial schedule" overall.

Now that the concrete piers are in place, "it allows them to start roughing in their plumbing underneath the slab." Workers will then be digging for the footings and prepare for pouring the slab, "which is the next progressive step in getting the steel erected for the building."

That work will begin in the northwest corner and work its way around the building. "They were hoping to start getting some of the steel up the first week in September," assuming the weather cooperates, he said.

After that work is done, construction will take place to provide a whole new look for the 50-year-old Coliseum.

"The new piece we're putting up is re-skinning the old building. So once the new building is up, you won't see any more of the old building," Grunzinger said.

Project officials are hoping for a stretch of dry weather so that more outside work can be done soon. Most of the inside work during this stage of the process is done, he said, and some of the other inside work can't take place until more is done on the outside.

Alliance Design Group is overseeing the project for the Rapides Parish Police Jury. Ratcliff Construction Co. of Alexandria is the lead contractor. The renovation is funded by a 2.5-mill property tax approved by Rapides Parish voters in November 2012.

The demolition phase of the project inside the Coliseum is about 90 percent complete, Grunzinger said. Remaining to be done are "small, miscellaneous things" such as removing electrical conduit and the old lights in the arena.

New lights and new electrical wiring will be installed.

The National Guard saved some money for the project by removing the Lewis-Odom Agricultural Complex building, which was on the Coliseum grounds, and relocating it to a site near Louisiana State University of Alexandria so it can be used as a barn by LSUA's new rodeo team.

"They removed the superstructure, the steel and everything, but there's still footings down below that we need to take out to prepare for the parking. There's a little red barn that still needs to be removed" as well, Grunzinger said.

Police Jury President Richard Billings said the jury hopes someone will buy those remaining structures, possibly through an auction, and then remove them so that the money targeted for demolition of them could be used for other parts of the project.

The project benefited recently through a change order providing total savings of $1,083,486, and that is money that Billings said "will go right back into the project," including upgrades to Exhibition Hall.

By extending the Police Jury's "agency status" to them, Ratcliff and subcontractors are exempt from having to pay sales tax on items and materials for the project, resulting in a savings of $720,580.

Bill Tudor of Alliance Design Group said "value engineering" provided additional savings of $727,775. Alliance worked with the contractor to find those savings so the money could be used elsewhere on the project, he said, allowing for "an equal product for a more economical price."

Having to use different types of piers and drill them 14 feet deeper than planned costs $364,869 more than was budgeted, but the sales tax and engineering savings more than offset that extra cost.

Originally, "bell-bottom piers" were going to be used, and those only would have had to go down 20 feet, but the ground was too wet to allow those to be used.

Steel casing was dropped into each hole for the piers, and concrete was poured in. The steel casing was then removed so it could be reused for the next hole.

Inside the Coliseum, various work has been taking place, unaffected by the rain.

All of the old seats have been removed from the arena. New seats won't be installed until near the end of the renovation process.

When the Coliseum opened a half-century ago, there were no separate seats, and spectators sat on the concrete risers. Those risers are being cleaned, and holes are being filled in.

The Coliseum has been closed since April 2014.

Renovation work began in late April this year after the Police Jury and city of Alexandria settled a longstanding dispute over jointly owned property on the Coliseum grounds. The jury needed the property to meet parking requirements.

After months of contentiousness, including the jury filing a lawsuit against the city, the issue was resolved in early April. The jury paid the city $1.1 million and provided the city clear ownership of a small piece of land at the Coliseum where the city has water wells and a communications tower. In return, the jury received clear ownership of nearly 16 acres of land that had been jointly owned.

An auction of miscellaneous items, including the flooring used when the Coliseum hosted the state high school basketball championships, raised about $18,000 for the renovation project in late May. Local officials are working to try to get the basketball championships back in the Coliseum once the renovation is complete.