Construction of the $51 million Idaho Central Credit Union Arena recently hit a substantial milestone – the start of the wood roofing and superstructure.
The 4,200 capacity arena will be a multi-use facility and the new home for Vandal men’s and women’s basketball teams located on the north side of the Kibbie Dome.
“The ICCU Arena project is utilizing wood beams, columns and mass timber elements for most of the roof and support structure,” said Guy Esser, UI’s project manager assigned to the ICCU Arena project. “Utilizing a wood structure was one of the earliest goals for the project as conceived back in 2016 and 2017. The construction industry in the United States is quickly starting to embrace mass timber construction due, in large part, to benefits related to sustainability. A commercial building sourced from managed, renewable forest products has a smaller carbon footprint than a comparable steel structure.”
Most of the wood being used in the arena is sourced from Idaho forests. The College of Natural Resources has been an integral partner in helping the project, bringing the Idaho Forest Products Commision to the forefront, Esser said.
“Idaho trees are being turned into lumber and plywood in Idaho saw mills and then subsequently fabricated into beams and columns at Idaho manufacturing facilities,” Esser said. “Key industry partners include Idaho Forest Group, Boise Cascade, QB Corporation, Tri-Pro Cedar and PotlatchDeltic.”
The most visible concrete structures are the two tall concrete shear walls on the east side of the building and the two main stair towers on the west side of the building. According to Esser, the four concrete elements will provide structural bracing and stability once the roof and wall structure is completed.
“The two west stair towers will provide the vertical circulation between the lower level locker rooms, the main level entries and basketball offices and the upper level Alumni Room and Vandal Terrace,” Esser said. “The two shear walls on the east side of the building form the north and south walls of the main level Practice Gym.”
The next big step of the project will be the installation of the wood roof structure, which will take place through October 2020.
“The building walls will start to be installed in September, allowing the project to be enclosed and heated for interior construction during the winter of 2021,” Esser said. “Over the next couple of months, the contractors will be completing the concrete steps that form the main seating bowl, and continuing to install ductwork, plumbing and electrical systems in the west side of the building.”
Former UI President Chuck Staben and the UI Board of Regents approved design of the arena in February 2017. However, Esser said UI has been planning some type of basketball arena since the late 1960’s.
“There have been numerous design studies initiated over the last forty years to pursue the feasibility of constructing a standalone basketball facility to complement the Kibbie Dome,” Esser said. “Most of those studies indicated building a new arena on the north side of the Kibbie Dome near our current construction side. Therefore, in a certain light, the ICCU Arena represents the culmination of decades of planning.”
David Shourd, the on-site project manager with Hoffman Construction Company, said his motivation for the project comes from being a UI Alum.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would have the opportunity to be involved in such a beautiful wood structure, there yet on my Alma Mater,” Shourd said. “It will be exciting to continue to see it come together over the next year, see all of the effort by so many come to a reality to form a beautiful piece of architecture on the (UI) campus.”
The ICCU Arena is scheduled to be completed September 2021. The construction is livestreamed on the UI Department of Athletics’ website
Stevie Carr can be reached at [email protected]