UPDATE (1:18 p.m.)…Arena manager Joe Dunagan says workers have finished pouring the concrete. The floor will need to sit about 28 days before it can be used.
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A major milestone in the Palmer Arena renovation project is taking shape today.
Workers began pouring the arena’s new concrete floor early this morning. As of mid-morning, they were about halfway done with the project, with arena manager Joe Dunagan saying it would take about 10 hours to complete.
Work on the arena’s floor began a few months ago. Since the arena’s primary event is ice hockey, the ice-making system had to be incorporated in the floor.
“They spent a week laying 12 miles of PVC piping and tubing underneath, and now they’re pouring concrete over the top of it so the concrete fills in around it. That’s going to be in the concrete. It’s going to freeze it from the bottom up.”
Though the concrete pouring project only takes a few hours, Dunagan says the arena’s staff will have to let it sit for 28 days before they can use it.
Along with a new concrete surface comes new boards and glass that will be placed around the perimeter of the ice. Dunagan says this will make the arena a premier facility.
“We’re supposed to be getting new boards, brand new glass, brand-new netting on the ends. We should have the best ice in the Midwest.”
This is the first time the arena’s concrete floor has been replaced since it opened in 1980.
