Orlando Events Center Unveiling Press Conference
December 11, 2007
Opening Statement:
Alex Martins, Chief Operating Officer, Orlando Magic
Yesterday, the Orlando Magic, as developer for the new Orlando Events Center, turned over schematic design documents to the City of Orlando, per our agreement with the city, in our collaborative process in designing and developing the new Orlando Events Center that was approved in late July. What this really represents is the 15 percent completion mark of design on the new events center. It’s really the form and substance of the exterior and the bowl design of the building. Per our agreement with the city, there’s formal benchmarks by which the Magic, as developers, to turn over these documents and yesterday was one of these benchmarks.
After that, the city has about a three week period of time to review the documents. We will finalize the schematic stage of design and then move into design development. Design development will really determine the specific elements of the design of the building, whether it’s finishes or specific details to area take-outs within each of the levels of the building, the exact type of finishes that will be put onto the exterior, etcetera.
That process will take us through the end of March at which time the Magic will turn over another formal set of documents to the city for their review. Upon their comment and adjustment, we will then get into the final construction documents for the facility in preparation for a groundbreaking in late July 2008.
What we would like to do for you today is to give you a brief overview from each of these individual’s perspectives as to where we are in the process and talk a little bit about the design, which we are very excited about, which we really believe reflects the goals of our community, the city of Orlando and the Orlando Magic. From the Magic’s perspective, we firmly believe in partnerships in whatever we do and HOK Sport and the City of Orlando have both been great partners in this process.
We’ve worked hand in hand, and although yesterday was a formal date to turn over documentation, I can tell you that the city has been involved with us every step of the way. We conducted design charrettes at various different levels with the entire team at HOK Sports in Kansas City who are responsible for the design of this facility. The city has been with us every step of the way. We’ve had operational charrettes, bringing in some of the country’s experts and putting on major events, to ensure that this facility lives up to the expectation and the commitment of the Magic and the City of Orlando. We will design an events center that will attract any major event that will play in any facility of comparable size and nature throughout the country, whether it be an NCAA tournament, or to its grandest extent, a national convention of a political party. We will live up to that commitment and the design charrettes that we’ve conducted operationally I think are an indication that we are bringing in all the experts to tell us what the needs are of the industry in order to meets those expectations.
My final comment is that I would just like to commend HOK Sport for living up to the city and the Magic’s commitment and making this project something that will drive economic development for our community and will also be inclusive, in terms of growing local and minority based businesses. We challenged HOK Sport in the very early part of our negotiations to include local, minority and women-owned professional services firms as part of the team. I am happy to announce that they’ve entered into contractual relationships to the extent of 31 percent of their team are local minority women based business that will benefit from this process. That means that 31 percent of the design process as well as 31 percent of the fee that public dollars have been dedicated to for this project. That includes some of the larger firms in town, which some people might be familiar with, to a small landscape design firm that’s a one-person firm that will grow from this process. That’s part of our goal in the entire process, to make this a situation whereby which we are growing local businesses.
This is the first step in that process. As we get into the construction piece, that will be the next step of growing some local businesses, but we also have some great success there already as well. Our construction manager has put together a team of local and minority firms that will include 30 percent of their construction management team being local and minority firms primarily from the Parramore neighborhood that will participate in managing the construction process once we come out of the ground.
I commend HOK for their participation and their commitment in living up to our commitment to the city and our community.
Byron Brooks, Chief Administrative Officer, City of Orlando
From the city’s perspective, we are delighted with the direction this project is going. We are excited about the design concept. From the very beginning Mayor Dyer and the city council expressed the intent to insure community venues are more than just private facilities but rather this was about community visioning and community building. We started with a master planning process. That master planning process resulted in nine guiding principles.
Those principles were to insure that we have facilities at all the venues that compliment this community, represent its scale and provide economic opportunities. The design today certainly reflects those principles and the partnership between Orlando Magic and HOK Sport has just been wonderful. They have embraced those design principles; in fact they really captured the essence of our community visioning. In addition to that we have talked about the opportunities for business development, we, the city council, have adopted a blue print. It is very important that this community saw an opportunity to benefit from the venue.
The work of the Orlando Magic and HOK has fulfilled those goals and objectives that Mayor Dyer and the city council have established. Mayor Dyer and the city council are very pleased with the direction we are moving and I think we are sending the right mark to the community as well in terms of participation and certainly in terms of capturing the essence of what we believe Orlando means. We want to ensure that the citizens have a facility that they can be proud of and reflects a lot of what Orlando means to the participants of this community.
Alex Martins, Chief Operating Officer, Orlando Magic
We didn’t get to this stage by just starting to draw, we got to this stage with an extensive amount of research, a lot of interviewing by residents of the city and by community leaders. There has been a lot of research that has gone into, What does a new events center in Orlando, Florida bring from a unique standpoint? How does it uniquely speak that it is in Orlando, Florida? John Shreve has led the HOK team and he characterizes it as establishing the DNA of our building.
John Shreve, Lead Architect and principal, HOK Sport
We are very excited to be here today and we are very excited to be a part of this project. One of the things that we were presented with first is one of the questions that Alex challenged us with. This provocative challenging question about what does a building in Orlando feel like, what should it look like? We have had the good fortune to work on projects all over the country and I can tell you that this is the most creative, innovative and exciting building that we have been involved with so far.
Part of that is because of the relationship that has been described so far between the city and the team and it has made our job so much easier beginning with the master plan with the neighborhood. That has really set the stage for us. It’s created the point of departure from which we understand our building to fit into the Parramore neighborhood. We are not just building a building, but we are creating a place.
We love this site because it has exposure to I-4 that creates a gateway, it’s an opportunity to create an icon for the city and it is also about rejuvenating the Parramore neighborhood to transition back into a thriving, changing place. And we have to understand that Church Street is really the umbilical chord that connects all the west side back to our side across I-4 then to downtown. There are a few things that we are actually really excited about that has allowed us to break new ground for this type of building and part of that has to do with bringing a lot of the excitement and a lot of energy and activity to the outside of the building.
When we come up to the new events center, it is not just about going inside some generic box and then looking at a basketball game; you are coming to a place that is going to be extremely dynamic on the outside. Church Street is going to feel like a stage setting where everybody is the actor. We are going to have balconies and terraces and escalators and it is going to be extremely vibrant and energetic. We think that these are the types of things that are going to make this a truly unique building right here in Orlando.
Brad Clark, Lead Architect and principal, HOK Sport
Our goal on this project is to make this a building that is really about Orlando, of Orlando and for Orlando. We have done extensive amounts of research on what this community consists of. I think that the images you see behind me begin to reflect that. The process of how we got here has really been gratifying.
We don’t always have such a great teamwork between all the partners as we did on this (project) in terms of being around the table at the same time, coming up with the ideas that lead to the things that you see behind us today. This building we think represents a project that is respectful of this community, respectful of the past architectural history of this community and at the same time I think it is one that helps us look forward.
We are looking at an image of a building that is contemporary and forward-looking, something that the Magic can grow into, something this community can grow into well into the future. The iconic tower at the corner of Church and Hughey represents a great potential for a new symbol that will become recognizable as a part of Orlando. It is an element that has an architectural height and size that is impressive in its own right. I think when you see the night image it has an impact that is maybe even stronger. I think having this Church Street plaza and having the ability to create almost an outdoor room for gathering before events, something more than just a street and sidewalk, is something we are excited about.
It has the potential to become something that can become greater as it extends west towards the Citrus Bowl and east toward downtown. The design is contemporary in nature. In terms of scale, this is certainly a building that is big, 800,000 square feet. You don’t hide that, in this case you celebrate it. We are trying to make sure that this is a building that takes its place among the skyline and at the same time it has to respect the conditions on all four sides of this building. The monumental scale and the video boards and the activity that faces I-4, I think it’s natural, I think it’s powerful, I think it makes sense.
As we continue to work around the building, we have really tried to be mindful in terms of the scale and the architectural character that addresses that neighborhood that is respectful. We think that from the outside of the building, it is powerful, it is here to stay, it will be here to stay when it is built and we are excited about that. I think that our goal on this project was to make it a place for everyone.
This is a project that has more unique attributes inside than any other, whether you are a general fan going to the general person’s club on the concourse level, it gives you a tremendous view of the event and you can stand and have a beer or soda and interact with other people and that is an amenity that is really important. This is a place for the general public, it is a place to bring kids.
There is a kid’s interactive fun zone, a party room for kids and kids-oriented retail. These are amenities for everyone; it is not just catering towards the suite parent. On the other hand, we have those amenities, we have a great variety of amenities for patrons of all price levels. It brings us back to the point that it is a place for everyone.
Alex Martins, Chief Operating Officer, Orlando Magic
HOK Sport was challenged by both the City and the Orlando Magic to design a building that was uniquely Orlando, that fit within the fabric of the community in which we were placing the building, that would be able to accommodate any major event that this city would want to attract, that will be an economic development driver for our community and grow our local business and also provide a facility that would be able to be accessible to every segment of our community and deliver amenities for every segment of our community. I am happy to say that today HOK has delivered this community that design.
|
Alex Martins, Chief Operating Officer, Orlando Magic
Yesterday, the Orlando Magic, as developer for the new Orlando Events Center, turned over schematic design documents to the City of Orlando, per our agreement with the city, in our collaborative process in designing and developing the new Orlando Events Center that was approved in late July. What this really represents is the 15 percent completion mark of design on the new events center. It’s really the form and substance of the exterior and the bowl design of the building. Per our agreement with the city, there’s formal benchmarks by which the Magic, as developers, to turn over these documents and yesterday was one of these benchmarks.
After that, the city has about a three week period of time to review the documents. We will finalize the schematic stage of design and then move into design development. Design development will really determine the specific elements of the design of the building, whether it’s finishes or specific details to area take-outs within each of the levels of the building, the exact type of finishes that will be put onto the exterior, etcetera.
That process will take us through the end of March at which time the Magic will turn over another formal set of documents to the city for their review. Upon their comment and adjustment, we will then get into the final construction documents for the facility in preparation for a groundbreaking in late July 2008.
What we would like to do for you today is to give you a brief overview from each of these individual’s perspectives as to where we are in the process and talk a little bit about the design, which we are very excited about, which we really believe reflects the goals of our community, the city of Orlando and the Orlando Magic. From the Magic’s perspective, we firmly believe in partnerships in whatever we do and HOK Sport and the City of Orlando have both been great partners in this process.
We’ve worked hand in hand, and although yesterday was a formal date to turn over documentation, I can tell you that the city has been involved with us every step of the way. We conducted design charrettes at various different levels with the entire team at HOK Sports in Kansas City who are responsible for the design of this facility. The city has been with us every step of the way. We’ve had operational charrettes, bringing in some of the country’s experts and putting on major events, to ensure that this facility lives up to the expectation and the commitment of the Magic and the City of Orlando. We will design an events center that will attract any major event that will play in any facility of comparable size and nature throughout the country, whether it be an NCAA tournament, or to its grandest extent, a national convention of a political party. We will live up to that commitment and the design charrettes that we’ve conducted operationally I think are an indication that we are bringing in all the experts to tell us what the needs are of the industry in order to meets those expectations.
My final comment is that I would just like to commend HOK Sport for living up to the city and the Magic’s commitment and making this project something that will drive economic development for our community and will also be inclusive, in terms of growing local and minority based businesses. We challenged HOK Sport in the very early part of our negotiations to include local, minority and women-owned professional services firms as part of the team. I am happy to announce that they’ve entered into contractual relationships to the extent of 31 percent of their team are local minority women based business that will benefit from this process. That means that 31 percent of the design process as well as 31 percent of the fee that public dollars have been dedicated to for this project. That includes some of the larger firms in town, which some people might be familiar with, to a small landscape design firm that’s a one-person firm that will grow from this process. That’s part of our goal in the entire process, to make this a situation whereby which we are growing local businesses.
This is the first step in that process. As we get into the construction piece, that will be the next step of growing some local businesses, but we also have some great success there already as well. Our construction manager has put together a team of local and minority firms that will include 30 percent of their construction management team being local and minority firms primarily from the Parramore neighborhood that will participate in managing the construction process once we come out of the ground.
I commend HOK for their participation and their commitment in living up to our commitment to the city and our community.
Byron Brooks, Chief Administrative Officer, City of Orlando
From the city’s perspective, we are delighted with the direction this project is going. We are excited about the design concept. From the very beginning Mayor Dyer and the city council expressed the intent to insure community venues are more than just private facilities but rather this was about community visioning and community building. We started with a master planning process. That master planning process resulted in nine guiding principles.
Those principles were to insure that we have facilities at all the venues that compliment this community, represent its scale and provide economic opportunities. The design today certainly reflects those principles and the partnership between Orlando Magic and HOK Sport has just been wonderful. They have embraced those design principles; in fact they really captured the essence of our community visioning. In addition to that we have talked about the opportunities for business development, we, the city council, have adopted a blue print. It is very important that this community saw an opportunity to benefit from the venue.
The work of the Orlando Magic and HOK has fulfilled those goals and objectives that Mayor Dyer and the city council have established. Mayor Dyer and the city council are very pleased with the direction we are moving and I think we are sending the right mark to the community as well in terms of participation and certainly in terms of capturing the essence of what we believe Orlando means. We want to ensure that the citizens have a facility that they can be proud of and reflects a lot of what Orlando means to the participants of this community.
Alex Martins, Chief Operating Officer, Orlando Magic
We didn’t get to this stage by just starting to draw, we got to this stage with an extensive amount of research, a lot of interviewing by residents of the city and by community leaders. There has been a lot of research that has gone into, What does a new events center in Orlando, Florida bring from a unique standpoint? How does it uniquely speak that it is in Orlando, Florida? John Shreve has led the HOK team and he characterizes it as establishing the DNA of our building.
John Shreve, Lead Architect and principal, HOK Sport
We are very excited to be here today and we are very excited to be a part of this project. One of the things that we were presented with first is one of the questions that Alex challenged us with. This provocative challenging question about what does a building in Orlando feel like, what should it look like? We have had the good fortune to work on projects all over the country and I can tell you that this is the most creative, innovative and exciting building that we have been involved with so far.
Part of that is because of the relationship that has been described so far between the city and the team and it has made our job so much easier beginning with the master plan with the neighborhood. That has really set the stage for us. It’s created the point of departure from which we understand our building to fit into the Parramore neighborhood. We are not just building a building, but we are creating a place.
We love this site because it has exposure to I-4 that creates a gateway, it’s an opportunity to create an icon for the city and it is also about rejuvenating the Parramore neighborhood to transition back into a thriving, changing place. And we have to understand that Church Street is really the umbilical chord that connects all the west side back to our side across I-4 then to downtown. There are a few things that we are actually really excited about that has allowed us to break new ground for this type of building and part of that has to do with bringing a lot of the excitement and a lot of energy and activity to the outside of the building.
When we come up to the new events center, it is not just about going inside some generic box and then looking at a basketball game; you are coming to a place that is going to be extremely dynamic on the outside. Church Street is going to feel like a stage setting where everybody is the actor. We are going to have balconies and terraces and escalators and it is going to be extremely vibrant and energetic. We think that these are the types of things that are going to make this a truly unique building right here in Orlando.
Brad Clark, Lead Architect and principal, HOK Sport
Our goal on this project is to make this a building that is really about Orlando, of Orlando and for Orlando. We have done extensive amounts of research on what this community consists of. I think that the images you see behind me begin to reflect that. The process of how we got here has really been gratifying.
We don’t always have such a great teamwork between all the partners as we did on this (project) in terms of being around the table at the same time, coming up with the ideas that lead to the things that you see behind us today. This building we think represents a project that is respectful of this community, respectful of the past architectural history of this community and at the same time I think it is one that helps us look forward.
We are looking at an image of a building that is contemporary and forward-looking, something that the Magic can grow into, something this community can grow into well into the future. The iconic tower at the corner of Church and Hughey represents a great potential for a new symbol that will become recognizable as a part of Orlando. It is an element that has an architectural height and size that is impressive in its own right. I think when you see the night image it has an impact that is maybe even stronger. I think having this Church Street plaza and having the ability to create almost an outdoor room for gathering before events, something more than just a street and sidewalk, is something we are excited about.
It has the potential to become something that can become greater as it extends west towards the Citrus Bowl and east toward downtown. The design is contemporary in nature. In terms of scale, this is certainly a building that is big, 800,000 square feet. You don’t hide that, in this case you celebrate it. We are trying to make sure that this is a building that takes its place among the skyline and at the same time it has to respect the conditions on all four sides of this building. The monumental scale and the video boards and the activity that faces I-4, I think it’s natural, I think it’s powerful, I think it makes sense.
As we continue to work around the building, we have really tried to be mindful in terms of the scale and the architectural character that addresses that neighborhood that is respectful. We think that from the outside of the building, it is powerful, it is here to stay, it will be here to stay when it is built and we are excited about that. I think that our goal on this project was to make it a place for everyone.
This is a project that has more unique attributes inside than any other, whether you are a general fan going to the general person’s club on the concourse level, it gives you a tremendous view of the event and you can stand and have a beer or soda and interact with other people and that is an amenity that is really important. This is a place for the general public, it is a place to bring kids.
There is a kid’s interactive fun zone, a party room for kids and kids-oriented retail. These are amenities for everyone; it is not just catering towards the suite parent. On the other hand, we have those amenities, we have a great variety of amenities for patrons of all price levels. It brings us back to the point that it is a place for everyone.
Alex Martins, Chief Operating Officer, Orlando Magic
HOK Sport was challenged by both the City and the Orlando Magic to design a building that was uniquely Orlando, that fit within the fabric of the community in which we were placing the building, that would be able to accommodate any major event that this city would want to attract, that will be an economic development driver for our community and grow our local business and also provide a facility that would be able to be accessible to every segment of our community and deliver amenities for every segment of our community. I am happy to say that today HOK has delivered this community that design.
