Quicken Loans Arena renovations to continue

Quicken+Loans+Arena+renovations+to+continue

Marissa Mauceri, Staff Writer

The Quicken Loans Arena has opened their doors again just in time for the Cavs season.  They closed at the beginning of the summer for major work.  The Shania Twain concert marked the last event before months of major renovations.  The project has been named “The Q Transformation.”  While they reopened in mid-October, they are still doing work on it. The goal of the renovations is to make the 25-year-old building more modern.

The project began with the demolition of the  a bridge that connected the JACK Casino parking garage to the Q.

Work on the south side of the building will add another 6, 350 square feet that, according to nba.com, will “increase the space to provide a more fan-friendly entryway into the arena and create a larger concourse area that will significantly improve wayfinding and pedestrian flow.”

They will also be adding an atrium with a new glass facade.   This will add 42,530 square feet,

After renovations, the new seating capacity will be 19,432, which will make the Q the NBA’s 13th-largest arena.

They announced new clubs also and will be modernizing the suites. They will be introducing the Bacardi Ocho Signature Lounge, which was previously the weight room. It will be able to hold 140 people and will allow fans to see the players as they exit the locker room and enter the court. The second new club is the Chairman’s Club, which was formerly the Lexus Lounge. It is being redone to be 3,050 feet. In the receiving docks area of the arena, there will be the Courtside Club, which will have a capacity of 600 and will have an impressive 153-foot drink rail. To celebrate basketball and hockey legends, the Huntington Legends Club will be placed on the fourth level. Finally, paying homage to the Cavs’ 2016 title, the new Westfield Champions Club will feature a 72-foot bar.

The renovations were originally expected to cost $140 million, and half was to be paid by the Cleveland Cavaliers, who extended their lease to 2034. In September, though, the Cavs decided to add $45 million to the project. This put the team’s investment in the arena at $115 million.  Most of this $45 million went toward a total redesign of the Cavs locker room. 

While the renovations are drastic, they are all for the fan experience, as the foundation of the building was perfectly fine.  The building is in its 25th year, which is old for a professional arena, so the renovations aim to make it a competitive event space for another 20 years.  The Q hosts not only the Cavs but also the Lake Erie Monsters hockey team and around 200 other ticketed events throughout the year.

 

If you would like to watch the renovations in action,  click here.