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Just about done, convention center set to open Collapse is the latest in a series of woes plaguing convention center Sunday, February 17, 2002 By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
The new David L. Lawrence Convention Center is shaping up as a visually stunning and environmentally advanced building that will make Pittsburgh more competitive in attracting conventions and trade shows. But as with many works in progress, the complicated $332 million structure has had its problems.
The worst was the collapse Tuesday of a 165-ton steel truss that killed one iron worker and injured two others. Investigators say it could be months before they determine just what happened.
Last fall, a few caissons were knocked slightly out of line by the thumping of a pile driver. The caissons, part of the building's underground support system, had to be buttressed with steel rods.
And a temporary entrance at the rear of the building, near 10th Street and Penn Avenue, will have to be used for the public shows this spring, starting with the recreational vehicle show that begins Saturday, because the main entrance, fronting the Allegheny River, won't be ready.
Finally, the price of the building is likely to climb above the publicly stated figure of $332 million, which itself is considerably higher than the original estimates of $260 million to $280 million.
Stephen Leeper, executive director of the Sports & Exhibition Authority, which is building the center, said additional state, corporate and foundation funding was being sought to pay for a riverfront park between the convention center and the river and a sloping pedestrian walkway along 10th Street down to the Allegheny.
He said added features such as mechanized blinds, which will cover the large windows during slide shows or video presentations, will add to the cost, as will the decision to add an elevator on the north side of the building.
He didn't apologize for these changes, saying Pittsburgh has a chance to build a remarkable building that will serve it for years to come and shouldn't take the cheap way out.
More problems sprout
Last week came word that the Pittsburgh Home & Garden Show, the building's second event, opening March 8, had been forced to eliminate 240 would-be exhibitors because not all the hoped-for interior space would be available.
In a Feb. 4 "Dear Exhibitor" letter, home and garden show Director John DeSantis said, "We have been informed that we will have 40,000 fewer square feet of the building than originally anticipated. This substantial change means that the current 2002 show floor plan will be reduced by 240 exhibitor booths -- nearly 15 percent."
DeSantis was forced to refund about $370,000 in rental money to the exhibitors who won't be able to have booths.
But he said he wasn't upset with the Sports & Exhibition Authority.
"SEA has done as good a job as anybody could at projecting what space will be available [this spring] and seeing that the project got built on a timetable," DeSantis said. "I am disappointed that we don't have the additional space, but it's only for this year. Next year, we will have plenty of space."
The home and garden show will have 1,400 exhibitors this year, the same as last year's show, which was held in the now-demolished old convention center. DeSantis had hoped to expand to 1,640 booths this year.
Initial projections of how much space would be available this spring "were overly optimistic," DeSantis said. "But I'm not angry with anybody about this. Those projections were made a year ago, when this building was just a hole in the ground."
Leeper praised the pace and quality of the convention center work and said it had progressed as expeditiously as possible.
As to how much space had been promised for the home and garden show, he said, "Obviously, John's expectations were not based in reality."
The old center had about 130,000 square feet of actual exhibit space. By using meeting rooms and lobby space, DeSantis said, he was able to squeeze in about 200,000 square feet of booths with products and services for homes and gardens.
And that's exactly how much space he'll have in the partially completed new center, he said. Three new exhibit halls are ready, two on the ground floor and one on the second floor, comprising 120,000 square feet.
But DeSantis said he was also setting up exhibitor displays in the truck loading docks and wide corridor space near the elevators, raising the total space to 200,000 square feet.
Standout structure
Many of the engineers, iron workers, electricians, architects and other personnel working on the building say they are proud to be part of such a noteworthy project.
One of them is Greg Bernarding of Whitehall, a member of Ironworkers Local 3, who has worked for 13 years on local projects, including the Mellon Client Service Center on Ross Street and a newly opened city parking garage near PNC Park.
He said he'd never worked on anything quite like the convention center. With its walls of glass, large skylights, sloping roof of galvanized steel that mimics the nearby bridges and steel "bow" jutting toward the river, the structure resembles a big ship.
"I like it," Bernarding said. "Something like this has never been done around here before. The roof is almost like an independent suspension bridge. I'm learning a lot."
Jillian Costic, director of the recreational vehicle show, is proud of having the first event in the building.
The fact that the front entrance isn't ready "is no big deal," she said. The elevators on the rear, or Penn Avenue, side will work, as will the stairs. The temporary entrance at 10th and Penn "isn't an inconvenience," she said. "It may be a good way to get people acclimated to the building."
Those going to the show can park in Downtown garages and walk, or park in Gold Lot One next to Heinz Field and take a free shuttle to the center, she said.
The convention center was designed by New York City architect Rafael Vinoly, who was chosen after a four-month international competition among several dozen architects.
When it's completed in the spring of 2003, it will have a second-floor exhibit hall of 250,000 square feet unobstructed by columns, one of the largest such spaces in the United States.
Tom Kennedy, SEA project director for the center, said the building would use pioneering utility concepts, such as natural light to reduce electric costs and recycling water on site.
Leeper said the convention center would be the largest "green" building in America, using environmental principles to cut heating, cooling and electrical costs.
The building will have one of the largest cable-stayed roofs in the world, he said.
Each of the 15 cable lines in the roof runs north to south and consists of 169 strands of steel, each five-eighths-inch thick.
The 15 steel trusses, which also run north to south, are anchored to caissons 70 feet deep and will be tied into the roof cables, which lift and help support them. The trusses are also bolted into floor beams that run east-west on each of the four levels of the center.
It was one of those trusses -- the 13th column line -- that collapsed last week.
The first eight trusses, which made up the first phase of the project -- the phase that opens Saturday -- have been tied into the cables in the roof, giving them greater stability.
Trusses in column lines nine, 10, 11 and 12 are being rechecked for proper erection and then will be tied into the roof cables, Leeper said Friday.
It isn't certain when the 13th truss will be put up again, or when it and trusses 14 and 15 will be tied into the roof, Leeper said.
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