SOLDIER FIELD
OWNER: Chicago Park District
LOCATION: Chicago, Ill.
BUDGET: $610 million
Kenny Construction Company provided general contracting and construction management services as part of a joint venture to rebuild Soldier Field, home to the NFL's Chicago Bears and long revered as a great American sports palace and Armed Services monument.
Built in 1924 on Chicago's picturesque lakefront, the old Soldier Field had grown antiquated. Kenny Construction, a leading builder and manager of large and complex projects, oversaw restoration of the historic colonnades and facade, and replacement of the seating bowl with a 61,500-seat sports and events facility. The 1,441,000-square-foot Soldier Field was scheduled for completion in a record 20 months, even though a typical stadium requires 30 months or more.
Infrastructure work started in July 2001, six months before the Bears' last game of the season. Early phased work included the rerouting of sewers, water, power and construction of two major electric vaults. By the time the Bears played their final game on Jan. 20, 2002, power was rerouted through new underground utilities networked throughout the 92-acre site, and construction of the new stadium launched at 12:01 a.m. Jan 21.
Years of experience helped to keep the project on its fast-track schedule. Also key was the coordination of the 108 subcontracted teams working around the clock according to a complex sequencing schedule for concurrent infrastructure and exterior work. Precise teamwork also was essential to fitting all systems - from seating to plumbing - within confined spaces of the existing stadium footprint.
In addition to boasting the most luxurious suites in all of football, the completed Soldier Field features 9,000 club seats, a 23' x 96' LCD video screen in both end zones and below-grade parking garages linked to the north and south sides of the stadium. A surrounding park includes a Children's Garden, sledding hill, new lakefront parkland, a granite Memorial Water Wall and a visitor's center for the Museum Campus.
Averaging more than $30 million a month in construction work, the Adaptive Reuse of Soldier Field project came in on budget - and in time for the Bears' nationally televised Monday night home opener on Sept. 29, 2003. Turner Construction Co. and Barton Malow Co. served as Kenny Construction's joint-venture partners. The team's ability to employ advanced technology and project management techniques earned it multiple awards, including the Associated General Contractors and Aon Construction Services Group's "Oscar" - the Build America Award.