North Carolina State University Athletics
Tony Haynes: Wolfpack Towers Rises
7/14/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
July 14, 2004
By Tony Haynes
A year before there was a flashy, high-tech video scoreboard on the north end of Carter-Finley Stadium and two years before the fabulous Murphy Football Center was erected, NC State football coach Chuck Amato's used a bulldozer as one of his primary recruiting tools. Amato's theory: Since there was nothing to show prospects at the time, put a bulldozer above the south end zone as a symbolic gesture. Since that time, of course, the Wolfpack's football stadium has undergone a major facelift that continues to this day with the ongoing construction of Wolfpack Towers.
Rising some 160 feet above the ground and propped up by massive concrete columns, the four-floor facility is on schedule to be completed prior to the start of the 2005 football season. Among other things, it will feature luxury suites, club level seating and a state-of-the art media center.
But first things first. Seven weeks from now on September 4, NC State will host Richmond to kick off the 2004 football season. While seven weeks may seem like an eternity for rabid Wolfpack football fans, the time frame by construction standards will go by like the blink of an eye. The race is on to complete enough of the first floor so that TV, radio, media and game operations will have an effective place to work on game day.
With that in mind, we introduce you to Penny VanHorn Dennis, Turner Contruction Company's project manager for Wolfpack Towers. Having already worked on stadium projects for Georgia Tech, the Denver Broncos, Staples Center in Los Angeles and Edison Field in Anaheim, VanHorn Dennis is sort of a stadium construction junky, who is finally getting the opportunity to work at home. Given the fact that stadium projects last up to two years, VanHorn Dennis, an Apex resident, has spent very few nights in her own bed during her career.
"In the sports group, we fall into two categories: people like me who will move from city to city or people who pick where they want to live and then fly back and forth every other week," VanHorn Dennis said. "When I worked at Georgia Tech, I lived in Atlanta."
While admitting that she's a little bit biased because she already lives in the area, VanHorn Dennis says this project has been a little more exciting than others she's been a part of. One reason has been the cooperation between everyone involved, including workers, NC State, The Wolfpack Club, Turner Construction and the architects.
"The schedule is going exceptionally well," she said. "The craftsmanship is some of the best I've ever seen, especially with regard to masonry. Everyone is excited about the project. Some of the other projects I've been involved with have been like just another job. But with this project, everyone, including the workers themselves, is excited about it."
Of course, not everything has gone perfectly. Two accidents, one of which claimed the life of a construction worker, were very difficult for VanHorn Dennis to swallow, especially since her company puts such a premium on worker safety.
"I know none of us on the project staff are ever going to forget what happened out here," she said. "Safety is a huge thing for our company and it's always emphasized. We had a dedicated safety superintendent here the whole time; we had training; internal and external reporting that was being done; we had bilingual communication. When this happened we kind of sat back and said 'we focus on this so much, how could this happen?' We struggled with it internally."
With additional safety measures now in place, including daily "tailgating talks" with crew members, the project is back on its feet again and moving forward at a pace that seems to be satisfactory to everyone involved.
"This is a great job," VanHorn Dennis said. "This a perfect stadium construction job because it's freestanding. It's going to look continuous, but it's not going to touch anything that's existing. It's a big building at a million square feet. The teamwork between the engineer, architect and us has been very good. That expedites the process."
It has been a seamless operation that should allow workers to complete a portion of the first floor that needs to be operational by September 4th. Additional construction on the new restrooms and the west side concourse, which must also be completed by the season opener, is also right on schedule.
"We have to be done with the restroom buildings for the 2004 season and we have to be done with enough structure to place the press temporarily on the first level," said VanHorn Dennis. "We're there on the first level and we're dried in on the concourse levels. I think we're right on schedule, but we had a tremendously aggressive schedule to begin with that we were all secretly nervous about. But we're on it. We're even exceeding our own internal goals."
And as they do, Wolfpack Towers continues to rise.
