Golden Facilities: June 2010 SAHPC Update [New Pictures 6/19]

Since my last visit to Strawberry Canyon, there have been a number of significant changes to the SAPHC and stadium. Most noticeably, steel braces are being lined up to support the stadium for the renovation project.

Before we continue with the update, I want to share a sad story about an inquiry I made to the UC facilities management team. I thought, since the official sources are providing so little coverage,  an on-site tour of the SAHPC would be nice so we could take some pictures for all to see and ask some construction questions that have come up in previous updates. Suffice it to say, the CGB community has been thoroughly disrespected by both facilites management and Cal Athletics media relations.

Much to my surprise, when I contacted facilities management about a tour, the response I received was from Cal Athletics media relations despite the fact that the project is in construction phase. Yup, the dreaded email forward. So right off the bat, facilities management wanted no part of this. The response from the athletic media relations was that they don't do site tours for safety reasons, blah blah. I replied saying that is fine, but asked for a contact to someone involved in the construction who can answer a few questions we had. Total stonewalling since that point.

I'm not sure why the athletics media relations is so uninterested in even the most basic requests from supporters who love the university and take great pride in seeing the construction progress. It's kind of their job to work on these kind of things. The media relations has a payroll of well over $500,000. Yet, their productivity is quite low considering that they have 11 full time people.  CGB provides better, more frequent content without any payroll. Take for instance this past Saturday. I went to calbears.com looking for a preview of the NCAA baseball game vs. Oral Roberts. Nothing. Good old CGB though had just what I was looking for.

Now back to the update at hand. Check out the May update to compare the pictures from last month.

Concrete has been poured over the south end in the past month.

Smooth concrete now covers the south end. More work on the exterior wall has taken place.

One of the smaller blue cranes has already been removed for this area.

The stairs transitioning from the four-level part of the SAHPC to the two-level part is still under construction.

Closeup of stairs under construction. From the angle looking down the stairs, their height looks less than from the angle looking up the stairs in one of the later pictures. That wall framing the stairs is 2 stories tall.

The concrete of the base of the lower stairs and the landing is in place.

Concrete for the middle section of the SAHPC plaza is now in place.

Looking down at the south entrance.

More south entrance.

Looking up the slope of the stairs gives a better sense of scale. Still looks very narrow to me for gameday traffic.

Starting around the 50 yard line going north, we can see the steel braces supporting the stadium wall. The footprint of the braces is quite small, so they shouldn't really disrupt the flow of people this fall. I wonder how these braces will affect the landscaping and finishing work on the plaza. Will we have bare concrete patches after the braces are removed?

Just as the plaza concrete is done, the steel gets in the way of our lovely view.

Looking in the area of the almighty weight room.

More weight room area and north entrance.

Start of the locker room/coaches offices area.

Looking southwest towards the widest section.

A tunnel emerges from the north end? Will this be the player entrance? Doubt it, because they would have to run outside through the concourse. They will probably have some underground tunnel linking the locker room to the north tunnel of the stadium.

The giant box from last time looks better as concrete.

Another look west at the box. Pretty sure now it's not an elevator shaft.

That is one fine blue sky.

The curtains covering the locker room are just lovely. That's one of the features I'll miss most when it's gone.

I never knew chicken coops were used as construction equipment.

The north crane is being removed this week according the schedule.

This view will have a good look at the facade when it's done.

I really can't wait until that floorboard covering the arch is gone. I think that stuff has been there since they removed the Haas press club in 2002.

Lens couldn't quite squeeze through the fencing.

You can barely see the Mike Tepper poster on the stadium wall now. Two months ago it was visible from this angle behind I-House.

Meanwhile, inside the stadium, demolition tags have been applied to the rooms that will be torn out for more concourse space.

Looming large on the horizon is the temporary weight room and offices alongside Witter Field. It was still grass the last time I checked. The operation there is a lot larger than I expected. The structures run along the length of the rugby and softball fields.

A few new pictures from Wed. 6/16. The side wall of the plaza is being formed.

The upper part of the stair has been filled in. Looks like there will be an entrance to the fourth floor here.

Not yet visible just 10 days ago, an elevator shaft providing access to all four levels and the plaza has emerged. The workers give a good sense of scale here. Some have suggested naming this feature the Tower of Tedford.

The entrance to all of the vomitories has been sealed off with tarps. Access to the concourse is totally blocked. There was a pile of carpet and furnishings outside, so any remaining stuff is being gutted. I thought there wouldn't be any heavy demolition until the end of the season, but who knows.

The rugby pitch has been divided into two practice fields.