“The stadium reconstruction will redefine stadiums, providing ASU with more and higher-quality amenities to improve the fan and team experience,” said Ryan Abbott, senior vice president and southwest district manager for Sundt Construction Inc.

A major part of the project was completed in Phase II, which focused on the west and north sides of the stadium. It created two new concourses, new concessions and restrooms, and three new premium club or suite areas. It also included the beginning work at the north end of the stadium that involved building a kitchen, operation center, loading area and back-of-house operations area. Gould Evans Associates, with offices in Phoenix, designed the $64 million facility.

“This project has not only improved the fan experience, but elevated an aging 58-year-old stadium to the most technologically advanced stadium in college football, featuring a state-of-the-art Distributed Antenna System (DAS) and Wi-Fi network,” Abbott said. “Once construction on the last phase is complete, the university will be able to use the stadium as a multipurpose entertainment hub.”

The stadium was originally constructed in 1958 with approximately 30,000 seats, then renovated in 1977 to hold 70,311 seats and then again in 1988 to hold 72,011 seats. While these expansions enhanced the stadium’s capacity, they posed a challenge for the project team working on the latest renovation.

“These renovations brought with them varying levels of infrastructure upgrades structural designs that stitched components together and isolated others,” Abbott said. “We’ve had to be diligent in discovery, an integrated input into the design.”

The Stadium was built between two mountains and the Salt River bed, which means any work on the bowl had to be completed from the field side and the narrow fire lane on the west (under the upper bowl), according to Abbott. The north end of the stadium is now constructed on engineered fill where the Salt River had eroded native soil when Hayden Butte diverted its flow.

The construction team is currently in Phase II-a, which will involve completing the north end zone with more new seating as well as the Sun Deck Terrace and a new Student Athlete Facility. Last year, Hunt-Sundt completed the first phase of the project, which included infrastructure work and rebuilding the south end zone, while Phase III will include focusing on the east side of the stadium to create a new main and upper concourse and a new east sideline club.

“The construction phases had to be threaded in between football seasons,” Abbott said. “The [project] team had to construct the equivalent of two average Arizona homes for 265 days straight to arrive at game day. We’ve had to develop new and varied ways of aggregating long lead materials, [managing] an immense workforce and being agile enough to accommodate better ideas in production.”

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The new law building will include 18 classrooms, a large lecture hall and a state-of-the-art active learning courtroom classroom. It has been lauded as a substantial improvement over the law college’s existing home inside Armstrong Hall on ASU’s Tempe campus, which it has outgrown. The soon-to-be-completed structure is also situated nearby Phoenix’s legal district, and will allow the university to attract more high profile national events, conferences and lecturers.

“The Arizona Center for Law and Society is another wonderful addition to our growing campus in the heart of Phoenix,” said ASU President Michael M. Crow at the official November 2014 groundbreaking ceremony. “Having the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law in downtown Phoenix fits perfectly with ASU’s mission of building strong learning and career connections with media, health care, corporate and government organizations for the more than 11,500 students at the downtown campus.”

In addition to the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law spaces, the facility will also include a retail space on the first floor consisting of the bookstore and a café, as well as an underground parking structure. The Ross-Blakely Law Library, currently housed in a separate building on the Tempe campus, will also be moved to the new facility.

Meanwhile, the Arizona Center for Law and Society will include space for two think tanks; multiple centers with cross-disciplinary focus, including the Lincoln Center; and the new ASU Alumni Law Group that will house the first teaching law firm associated with a law school, according to a statement by the university.

“I hope everyone here understands what an incredible achievement this building represents,” said Doug Sylvester, dean of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, said in a speech at the topping out ceremony. “It reflects the fact that you can’t do this alone and that you need community partners to achieve great things. This is an exciting moment for all of us.”

Nearly 80 attendees signed their name to the final 49-foot metal beam, which was then fixed into place by Redwood City, Calif.-headquartered builder DPR Construction, which maintains a regional office in Phoenix. Ennead Architects, with offices in New York and Shanghai, and Jones Studios Inc. of Phoenix each served as lead architects.

Funding for the sprawling new facility — which will serve an estimated 1,000 students upon completion — was partially provided by the city of Phoenix. The city specifically contributed both the land and an additional $12 million in construction bonds to support the development of the Arizona Center for Law and Society. ASU has also embarked on a capital campaign to raise an additional $50 million in donor contributions.

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