April 14--Thursday marks the one-year anniversary of the beginning of construction of the Owensboro Convention Center. The $39.5 million centerpiece of downtown revitalization is now about one-half complete. The official completion date set forth by builder Denark Construction Co. of Knoxville, Tenn., is Jan. 27, but city officials have said many times that a December opening is the hope.

An early opening has not been ruled out by Denark officials, who say now that by July or August they should be able to give an updated completion date.

During a tour of the facility Tuesday by city officials, Mike Leopold, senior project manager with Denark, said the main focus of the construction process currently is finishing the roof, which was delayed this spring by cold weather. The adhesive material used for the roof cannot be used unless the temperature is at least 40 degrees, he said.

"The roof is 90 percent done," Leopold said. "Once that is done, it frees up a lot of things."

Workers are also busy hanging metal studs for walls and roughing in the sprinkler pipes, electrical systems and ductwork, Leopold said.

Once weather is no longer an issue and the building is "dried-in," work typically speeds up, Leopold said.

"In July and August we can compute where we are and when we will be finished," he said.

Owensboro City Manager Bill Parrish said the city isn't expecting to know when the convention center will be finished until July at the earliest.

"They (construction officials) told me the key is to get it enclosed and under roof," Parrish said. "I've heard the roof was a little late. I drive down there once a week. It's amazing how it is starting to take shape."

Dean Dennis, general

manager of the convention center and vice president of Global Spectrum, said the staff is operating under the assumption that the building will not be ready for events until Jan. 27 but will make adjustments if it is finished and available earlier.

"We're waiting for that July time frame as well to see if we might get it earlier," Dennis said. "If so, we'll figure out what we can go after. We're focusing on Jan. 27 and beyond. If it comes earlier, we'll put a game plan together. After July, we'll look at it and decide what we can accomplish."

In October, Denark's Gordon Knapp said that the January date was the "drop dead" completion date for the 169,000-square-foot convention center, and everything would be done to beat that deadline and have the building open by Christmas.

The convention center was "topped out" -- meaning the last steel beams were put in place -- Jan. 11, and Knapp said at the time that it was one-third complete. He said that the first one-third of a project was the hardest and most time-consuming. Since then the building has been enclosed almost completely on the east and west sides with blue gypsum sheeting, which will eventually be covered with sheets of anodized aluminum. The interior of the three-level, glass-front building is quickly filling with steel studs that will make up walls.

Dennis said Tuesday that a small restaurant/cybercafe (Internet access) will be built on the west side of the ground floor of the convention center. It will be open only during convention center events for the use of participants and may be the home of some Executive Inn Rivermont memorabilia the city saved from the former hotel.

To the east and south of the convention center, two other large construction projects are under way -- the Hampton Inn & Suites hotel and the Boardwalk Partners Pipeline/Texas Gas headquarters building. The seven-story hotel is on schedule to be finished the same time as the convention center, but will probably be done sooner, while the two-story Texas Gas building is set for a July finish, according to officials with both projects.

Hampton Inn & Suites

"It's going super," said owner and developer Malcolm Bryant. "We have outstanding contractors, most of them local. There's a lot of ownership of the hotel and downtown. We hope to open with the convention center in January."

However, the $20 million hotel may be finished before January, Bryant said. But any grand opening ceremony for the hotel will be delayed until it can coincide with the grand opening of the convention center.

"We are completing the framing and working on the mechanical features, plumbing, electrical and technology throughout the building and the lobby," Bryant said. "There is a lot of detail in the mechanical installation. We're looking forward to it being dried in this month or May."

The hotel's windows will start appearing this month or in early May, Bryant said.

Boardwalk Pipeline Partners/Texas Gas headquarters

"It's going very well. Everything is on schedule," said Jack Wells of development company Riverfront Jam. "We had a nice, mild winter and we got a lot of construction done. We're working on the exterior masonry on the Second Street (side) and heading east and turning south on Locust Street. All the huge HVAC (heating, ventilation and cooling) units on the roof are in place, and all the sprinklers are in. We should be finished by the end of July, and then we'll turn it over to Boardwalk. It's up to them when they move in."

Parking lots around the building are mostly finished, Wells said. "We're quite pleased with the progress," he said.

As for the Holiday Inn hotel planned for the west side of the convention center, Wells said the developers are shooting for a July start of construction, with the opening set for summer of 2014.

Steve Vied, 691-7297, [email protected]

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