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Trades raise the roof on two concert venues

Date Posted: May 13 2005

File this under "construction coincidences."

The building trades last month were wrapping up the construction of roof structures over two significant open air concert venues. Both projects followed a similar construction schedule. Both covered a similar seating area. And the venues are only 20 minutes apart. The roofs themselves, however, couldn't have been more different.

We paid a visit to both projects, and the reports follow:

Freedom Hill patrons to go under cover

Seated concert-goers at Freedom Hill in Sterling Heights will have a roof - a very, very big roof - over their heads when the open-air entertainment venue opens for business in June.

Over the past few months, construction manager Roncelli, its subcontractors and the building trades have been hard at work, building a roof that will protect some 4,200 fixed seats from the elements. The venue has lawn seating for approximately another 3,000 patrons.

The 49,000-square-foot roof is supported by only six columns - and only two of those posts will affect patrons' sight lines to the stage. With so much weight riding on those columns, it was imperative that they be placed properly and supported by sufficiently deep foundations.

"It's rare that you find an amphitheater with only two columns in the audience's sight lines," said Dennis Bishop, senior project manager for Roncelli. "This system requires heavier support girders, but this structure was also unique because we had to go deeper with the piles to find a suitable bearing depth."

That's because the ground immediately below Freedom Hill is less than stable for construction purposes: it was used as a 1960s-era refuse landfill, and then as a depository for soil taken from the excavation of I-696 in the 1970s. Piles had to be driven as deep as 85-90 feet to find "suitable bearing material," for the foundation system, Bishop said.

Mike Hines, risk manager for the Whaley Steel, said the length and weight of the roof trusses - they were as long as 190 feet - required modifications on the ground-level, too. He said instability in the top soil required the trades to dig down seven feet around the location of the crane, dump gravel, and then place two layers of wooden railroad-tie mats under the Manitowac 2250 to keep it level.

"Just by looking at it, it looks like a pretty straightforward job," Hines said. "But there was actually quite a bit of engineering that went into this project because of the weight of the trusses and the soil conditions."

The venue's official name is the Jerome-Duncan Ford Theatre at Freedom Hill. It is managed by a cooperative agreement between Palace Sports and Entertainment and Hillside Productions. The theatre's management said since 2000, the facility has seen more than $20 million in "venue enhancements," not including the new roof for the pavilion.

As Freedom Hill has become an increasingly popular venue, some residential neighbors have complained about noise from the shows. Bishop said this project will include a sound absorbing containment wall and the installation of perforated and insulated metal panels on the perimeter of the amphitheater to absorb sound.

"With its many significant enhancements in recent years, it is essentially a brand new facility," said Tom Wilson, president and CEO of the Palace/Hillside management group. "Combining this with all the services and amenities people have grown to expect over the years at our venues, we are looking to take the experience to a new level." He said 30-40 shows are being targeted for the amphitheater's schedule in 2005, with the first three acts being the Moody Blues, the Beach Boys and Tom Jones.

The roof and sound-absorption project began Jan. 4, employing an average of 50-60 construction workers. While the job has employed primarily iron workers and carpenters, electricians have also been on the job wiring for sound and lights, new concrete has been placed, plumbers have installed roof drains and conductors, and roofers will be installing a rubber membrane cover over the top deck.

The men and women wearing hard hats will be complete with their work by June 1.

"The project will involve about 50,000 man-hours, employing a wide spectrum of tradespeople," Bishop said. "They've been fantastic."

CONNECTING IRON in the superstructure of the new 49,000-squre-foot roof at Freedom Hill in Sterling Heights is Brad Schwanbeck of Iron Workers Local 25 and Whaley Steel.