This multi-purpose arena in Toledo, Ohio, will be home for hockey, arena football, select basketball tournaments and various concert/special events. The 270,000-sq-ft arena has 8,500 fixed seats, 20 suites in the club seating level, and is expected to be one of the nation’s first LEED-certified sports arena.
Built on a brownfield site, the new arena shows the county’s commitment to revitalizing Toledo’s Warehouse District.
Overall, the new arena, which is seeking LEED Silver certification, provides 39.2% fossil fuel use reduction and 28.3% energy cost savings.
The arena’s signature design element is its 900-sq-ft green screen at the main entrance. The mesh screen is covered with Virginia Creeper, a non-fruit-bearing perennial pine that climbs up fences, trees, and shrubs in the summer months, providing additional shade to the glass-enclosed main entrance. The plant hibernates in the winter, leaving the screen open to allow additional sunlight to heat the building.
The arena’s location near mass transit, its white membrane reflective roof, its underground rainwater-retention tanks, use of electricity-generating and water-heating microturbines, absorption chiller which cools hot water to power the air conditioning unit, low-flow fixtures and waterless urinals, and use of low VOCs, recycled content, and regional building materials all add to the building’s energy efficiency. In addition, an incorporated rain garden and 180,000-gallon stormwater management system add to the arena’s 56% water savings.
The project used Building Information Modeling to construct a 3D architectural and structural rendering of the arena to facilitate mechanical/electrical/plumbing coordination and installations.
Owner: Board of the Lucas County Commissioners, Toledo, Ohio
Construction Manager: The Lathrop Co., Maumee, Ohio
Design Firm: HNTB, Cleveland;
The Collaborative Inc., Toledo: Poggemeyer Design Group, Bowling Green, Ohio
Offering year-round entertainment, the new arena will serve as home to the Toledo Walleye Hockey Team and the Toledo Bullfrogs Arena Football team, and will house various concerts and special events including the Ringling Brothers/Barnum & Bailey Circus.
Lathrop avoided a potential schedule disaster by enclosing the building before winter hit, but assembling the 18.5-ft deep, 207-ft long roof trusses presented an obstacle. The trusses couldn’t be transported through downtown Toledo assembled, so they first had to be designed and built elsewhere then taken apart and trucked to the facility. Once on site, they were reassembled outside the building and installed by ironworkers with a crane.
