The general contractor for Indiana University of Pennsylvania's Kovalchick Complex today said that the facility is on schedule for June 6, 2011, completion, 850 days after construction began February 16.
Michael Cain, senior project manager, Mascaro Construction Company, LP., made the announcement in a contractor briefing event today at IUP.
McCain said that during the peak of construction, Mascaro expects to have 125 craftsmen working at the site. All the subcontractors are local companies, he said. He also said that Mascaro expects to begin steel erection for the facility after July 4 in order that the building can be under roof by winter.
He noted that the Kovalchick Complex will require 6,000 yards of concrete, comparing that to an average driveway, which has six yards. The Kovalchick Complex also will require 400 tons of rebar (reinforcing bar), 1,500 tons of structural steel, and eight 28-feet-deep trusses. The building will be supported by 161 in-ground concrete piers.
Cain said that current work includes soil remediation, which will be followed by bulk excavation. After that work is complete, construction workers will install the in-ground concrete piers, foundations, and steel work.
Dr. Tony Atwater, president of IUP, hosted the event, which also included remarks from Liz O'Reilly, deputy director, Pennsylvania Department of General Services, and state Senator Don White.
The $53.49 million facility is a Pennsylvania Department of General Services project.
The 150,000-square-foot Kovalchick Complexwill be located along Wayne Avenue adjacent to the university. It includes the 4,000- to 5,000-seat Ed Fry Arena, the 650-seat Christine Toretti auditorium, a conference center, grand lobby, and commercial kitchen
Other contractors for the Kovalchick Complex are Farfield Company, of Lititz, who will do the mechanical and electrical construction; and S.P. McCarl Inc., of Altoona, who will do the plumbing. L. Robert Kimball, of Ebensburg, is the professional architect.
IUP officially broke ground for the KCAC on Nov. 13, 2008.
The Kovalchick Complex is projected to have a $22-million economic impact on the region during construction and an annual economic impact of $12.5 million in each year of operation.
The Horizon Team, a group representing Horizon Properties Group LLC and Summit Development Consulting Corp., was selected in July 2008 to build an adjoining hotel to the KCAC.
The hotel will be completed by spring 2011 and will be owned by the Foundation for IUP, a nonprofit organization. Officials project that the hotel will generate $211 million in economic impact for the region in the first decade of its operation.
Major gifts for construction of the facility include a $2-million donation from the Kovalchick family, of Indiana, for whom the facility is named, announced in February 2007; a $1-million challenge gift from Chad Hurley, a 1999 IUP graduate, of California, who made the gift in honor of Fry, his former track and field coach, in November 2008; and a $1-million gift from local businessman Edward Bratton, of Indiana. The Bratton gift was announced March 12.