House Party! Magic rout 76ers in final regular-season game at Amway
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Here Comes The Amway CenterBy John Denton Orlandomagic.com ORLANDO – As the final seconds of 2009 ticked away last week and a new year was ushered in, Orlando Magic Chief Operating Officer Alex Martins couldn’t help but think of one thing: 2010 is the year that Central Florida and the Magic will finally welcome a sparkling, new events center. Forgive Martins and his planning team these days if they are a bit consumed with the construction of Amway Center, which is scheduled to open in October. In addition to his daily duties of running the Magic, Martins has also has been the leading figure behind the design and construction of the 875,000-square-foot facility. Martins and his executive team of planners and designers usually spend a large chunk of their day dedicated to the construction of the new, state-of-the-art facility. In a matter of months, Amway Center has gone from a vision on blueprints to a massive, eye-catching facility adjacent to I-4 in downtown Orlando. Finally, the walls of the facility that is nearly three times the size of the current Amway Arena gives fans something tangible to see and get excited about. Martins has certainly shared in that excitement as he’s watched the building take shape. ``I joke with some people in the community that we’re building one of the best buildings in North America, one of the biggest buildings in North America and the most technologically advanced building in North America. And, oh by the way, my other full-time job is running the business of a professional basketball team,’’ Martins said with a laugh. ``But it’s definitely a labor of love building that building because it’s something that this community is going to be recognized for for decades to come.’’ Martins said the $380 million project is on schedule and set for a ``Grand Opening Month’’ in October. The environmentally friendly, LEED-certified facility, which will seat 18,500 for NBA basketball games and up to 20,000 for other events, will be enclosed on three sides and along the roof by the end of January. In February, the air conditioning and heating units will be fully installed and once the humidity is taken out of the building, the interior design can begin in full. Martins said the fans that he talks to in the community and at Magic games marvel at the sheer size and design of the new building. And they should marvel considering that it will almost triple the size of the current 367,000-square-foot Amway Arena. The new facility will have 60 suites, 1,400 club seats, seven levels, 37 restrooms, retail stores and one concession point of sale for every 125 spectators. The massive construction project has also served as a boon of sorts to the construction business in a time when jobs have been scarce because of the sharp downturn of the nation’s economy. And the Magic have worked closely with local minority and women-owned businesses -- some of which are based out of the nearby Parramore community -- awarding them with 35.9 percent of the contracts totaling a whopping $91,228,940 million. Of the 155 minority and women-owned firms under contract working at the facility, there are 56 African-American-owned firms, 44 women-owned firms, 34 Hispanic-owned firms, 19 Asian-American-owned firms and two Native-American-owned firms. ``You certainly can’t miss it now when you drive along I-4 because it is so massive. It definitely sticks out on the western skyline of downtown,’’ Martins said. ``The anticipation is definitely building toward October. Everybody has known that this building is going to be built and is on our horizon, but now that we can actually see it people are starting to get excited about getting their first look at events inside the facility.’’ What truly makes Amway Center unique, however, is the technology and the level of amenities available to every ticket-buyer. The facility will feature Everyfan’s Bar and Food Court, a Club Restaurant, the Nutrilite Magic Fan Experience and Orlando Info Garden Kid’s Zone, three bars, an outdoor plaza overlooking downtown Orlando and several retail stores and novelty stores. And the facility promises to be affordable to Magic fans on several different levels. There will be 2,500 seats priced $15 or less, 7,000 seats priced $25 or less and 10,000 seats priced $50 or less. And for the first time ever, the Magic will be offering approximately 600 $5 tickets to each game. The overall goal, Martins said, was to make more amenities available to fans in the facility regardless of whether they are spending $5 or $500 for a ticket. ``We’ve designed a facility that has so many built-in amenities for every level of ticket-buyer,’’ he said. ``So many of these buildings in the past have been designed where a lot of the amenities have focused only on the premium ticket-buyer, the courtside seat holder or the club-seat holder. But here with the new building, we have bars, restaurants and clubs on every level for every ticket-buyer. And that’s for Magic games and every event. So it really is going to be a building that has a high level of amenity for everybody.’’ And because the entire facility will be digitally wired by Harris Corp., the look of the venue will change from night to night depending on the event taking place. Advertising boards can be changed in various parts of the building to target certain demographics of people. Digital menus can be adjusted easily from night to night, allowing changes whether the facility is hosting a Magic game, a Latin concert or a motivational speaking tour. The bigger size, flexibility and advanced technology will allow Orlando to attract bigger concerts, major political conventions and compete for more major sporting events such as the SEC, ACC and NCAA tournaments. But Martins feels the true selling point of the facility is that it will bring a better sense of enjoyment for the arena’s patrons. ``I think the community recognizes this will give us the opportunity to attract all of those events, but what people don’t recognize is how significantly improved this building is going to be over the current Amway Arena,’’ Martins said. ``The common fan still doesn’t have an understanding of the level of amenities, the level of technology and the level of comfort that we’re going to have throughout the building. Those are the kinds of things that fans are going to be incredibly surprised by when they walk in that building for the first time.’’ That ``first time’’ for many fans will come in October when City of Orlando, Orange County and Magic leaders unveil the new facility to the public. Intensive planning is already underway to book a wide variety of events for the first few weeks to turn the grand opening into a month-long celebration of Orlando’s newest, grandest facility. ``We want it to be spectacular and to live up to the hype of the design and live up to the expectations of the community. We want it to be very special,’’ Martins said. ``It’s not going to be an Opening Day or an Opening Week; our intent is that we’re going to have an Opening Month of grand activities. ``Our whole goal in that month-long celebration is to host events that touch every segment of our community,’’ Martins continued. ``One night it might be a Magic preseason game, one night a Rock-and-Roll concert and another night a country concert, another night a Latin show and another night a Hip-Hop show. Our intent is to fill the whole month of October with a diverse offering of events so that by the time that our Grand Opening Month is complete we will have given every segment of the community something with which to have gone and seen the new building.’’ Martins said he’s eager to see the looks on the faces of fans when they walk into the new Amway Center for the first time. And he’s already dreamed about what Opening Night of the 2010-11 season for the Magic will look like. In fact, he already has in mind a scenario that would make the opening one of the grandest nights in Orlando’s history. ``To be able to close down the Amway Arena by hoisting that trophy and then opening the Amway Center by hoisting the banner, that would be a storybook finish to building a new building. You couldn’t dream of a better opening,’’ Martins said. ``We dream about that every day. We’ve never been better poised in the history of our organization to give us an opportunity to do that. This team is as deep and as competitive as any that’s ever played here in Orlando and it gives us our best chance ever to win a World Championship. ``Hopefully we’ll stay healthy as a team, continue to improve as the year goes along and hopefully it will take us toward winning our first World Championship in June.’’ Directory: magic magic -> Magic realism magic -> Magic Cellar Acquired By Home Box Office (hbo) In Historic Sale magic -> The Witch-Cult in Western Europe magic -> Magic Leap is the new Florida-based company developing a very buzzed-about augmented-reality device of the same name magic -> Magic Mirror: a virtual Dressing Room Download 205.63 Kb. Share with your friends:
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