North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: North End Zone Project Underway
12/8/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 8, 2005
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BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH - By Friday afternoon, the A.E. Finley Fieldhouse that has stood just beyond the north end zone of Carter-Finley Stadium since it opened in 1966 will be reduced to a pile of rubble.
That might cause a bit of a distraction to spectators attending Saturday's North Carolina High School Athletic Association Class 4-A and Class 4-AA football championships, but it is another sign of progress for NC State football.
As soon as the area is cleared, general contractor T.A. Loving of Goldsboro will begin construction on the third and final phase of major renovation to the 39-year-old stadium, enclosing the lower bowl of the stadium with a grandstand that will also double as the new Finley Fieldhouse.
Previous phases including the construction of the Murphy Center and south end zone grandstands, which opened in 2002, and Vaughn Towers, the new press box, luxury box and club seating that opened prior to the 2005 season.
 Carter-Finley Stadium, when The Red Zone is complete in August, 2006.  |
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The new permanent seating will essentially replace the temporary bleachers and hillside seating that have been used for several seasons and the bench seating in front of the old fieldhouse, which was used by the NC State Marching Band.
The $18.5 million project is expected to be completed by Aug. 1, 2006, leaving about a month before the Wolfpack's home opener on Sept. 2.
"It's a tight timeline," said NC State athletics director Lee Fowler. "That's why we jumped on getting started as quickly as we could. We believe it will be done before the start of next season."
Demolition of the old fieldhouse, which was named for Raleigh philanthropist A.E. Finley, began the Monday after NC Stat's regular-season finale against Maryland, a game the Wolfpack won 20-14 to become bowl eligible.
It took about a week to remove all the glass from the windows and the asbestos in the building, according to NC State Assistant Athletics Director for Outdoor Facilities Ray Brincefield.
Destruction of the building's outer shell began on Monday, and should be completed by the end of the week, Brincefield said. Most of the debris has been removed as it comes down, to allow a quicker start on construction of the corner stands that will connect to the existing lower northeast and lower northwest grandstands.
"Those are simple concrete-on-grade construction, and work should be started on that before Christmas," Brincefield said.
The most time-consuming part of the project will be the portion that includes the new field house, which will retain the historic A.E. Finley name. It will include over-sized lockerrooms for the visiting team, as well as an oversized home lockerroom that will be used by NC State during halftime of football games. Both can be partitioned, to accommodate up to four teams for use during the state high school football championships.
The new fieldhouse will also have lockerrooms for coaches, game officials, cheerleaders and dance team members, as well as ample storage for field maintenance equipment.
There will be two tunnels leading from each of the team lockerrooms onto the field. There will also be a covered parking area underneath the Red Zone seating for team buses and field-level machines, such as mowers and field-painting machines.
For fans, there will be two new concession stands, two sets of men's and women's restrooms and a concourse just underneath scoreboard that will connect the East and West side stands. There will also be a new entry/exit gate, leading to a new plaza that will connect Carter-Finley with the RBC Center.
The NEZ project has an estimated cost of $18.5 million. Of that, $17.3 million will be raised with a combination of lifetime seating rights, a portion of ticket sales and money raised by the NC State Student Aid Association (the Wolfpack Club). The additional $1.24 million will be used to create a plaza between the RBC Center and Carter-Finley Stadium. That money has been donated by NC State supporters Curtis and Jacqueline Dail.
According to Stephen Ponder, associate executive director of the Wolfpack Club, the priority deadline for reserving seats in the Red Zone is Dec. 31. So far, about 40 percent of the available 3,776 lifetime rights seats already have been sold. Each seat cost $2,500, payable over 10 years.
For more information about Red Zone seating click here.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
