The interior of Madison Square Garden will be substantially transformed in its new overhaul, according to an article today in The Wall Street Journal by Scott Cacciola.
"This is not a renovation," Hank J. Ratner, president and CEO of the arena, told The Journal: "This is a transformation." "We're building a brand new building inside the iconic exterior of the old building," he said.
The project is expected to cost between $775-million and $850 million and be completed by October, 2013, according to the article. Most of the work will be done over the next three summers during which time the arena will be shut down.
The building's circular design will be retained: "It's a finished room with a finished ceiling and it keeps a certain intimacy that no other building has yet been able to create," Mr. Ratner declared in the article.
In the first phase, 20 new event-level suites will be created on the "lower bowl" along with an expanded and renovated sixth-floor concourse, the article said.
"Each suite will feature a bar, living room, bathroom, fireplace and seating in the second, third and fourth rows. The suites will be built in what is now largely wasted space under the lower bowl, according to Mr. Ratner. And he said there already has been high demand: The contracts for all 20 event-level suites have been signed or are close to being finalized. Mr. Ratner declined to say how much the suites cost," the article continued.
"By October 2012," the article said, "most of the work on the upper bowl should be completed. Fifty-eight lower-level suites, about 23 rows up and featuring the same basic layout as the event-level suites, will be added. There also will be a 'Super Club' - a mega-size suite that will be able to accommodate as many as 120 people. One of the more subtle changes will be among the most significant: The upper bowl will be rebuilt at a steeper angle - 17 ¿ degrees - which will create more of a vertical effect and improve sightlines for fans in the far reaches of the arena. Many upper-tier seats - in the nosebleed sections, so to speak - will be five feet closer to the playing surface because the bowl will be compressed, Mr. Ratner said. Just as important, the re-design will create additional space for the two concourses that ring the arena. The total surface area of the lower concourse will be doubled, while the total surface area in the upper concourse will be nearly tripled."
In the final phase, the article said, "two parallel bridges - one of the project's signature features - will be suspended over the length of the playing surface. The bridges, each 200 feet by 25 feet, will include concessions and seating that is vaguely reminiscent of the bleachers atop the Green Monster at Fenway Park. The bridges 'will be the first of its kind in the world,' said Murray Beynon, the lead architect on the project and a partner at Brisbin Brook Beynon."
Mr. Ratner told The Journal that the arena, which added 89 luxury suites in 1991, will have 30 percent more bathroom space and the new concourses "will be opened up with wide windows that have city views" and "the best of New York food."
"This is not a renovation," Hank J. Ratner, president and CEO of the arena, told The Journal: "This is a transformation." "We're building a brand new building inside the iconic exterior of the old building," he said.
The project is expected to cost between $775-million and $850 million and be completed by October, 2013, according to the article. Most of the work will be done over the next three summers during which time the arena will be shut down.
The building's circular design will be retained: "It's a finished room with a finished ceiling and it keeps a certain intimacy that no other building has yet been able to create," Mr. Ratner declared in the article.
In the first phase, 20 new event-level suites will be created on the "lower bowl" along with an expanded and renovated sixth-floor concourse, the article said.
"Each suite will feature a bar, living room, bathroom, fireplace and seating in the second, third and fourth rows. The suites will be built in what is now largely wasted space under the lower bowl, according to Mr. Ratner. And he said there already has been high demand: The contracts for all 20 event-level suites have been signed or are close to being finalized. Mr. Ratner declined to say how much the suites cost," the article continued.
"By October 2012," the article said, "most of the work on the upper bowl should be completed. Fifty-eight lower-level suites, about 23 rows up and featuring the same basic layout as the event-level suites, will be added. There also will be a 'Super Club' - a mega-size suite that will be able to accommodate as many as 120 people. One of the more subtle changes will be among the most significant: The upper bowl will be rebuilt at a steeper angle - 17 ¿ degrees - which will create more of a vertical effect and improve sightlines for fans in the far reaches of the arena. Many upper-tier seats - in the nosebleed sections, so to speak - will be five feet closer to the playing surface because the bowl will be compressed, Mr. Ratner said. Just as important, the re-design will create additional space for the two concourses that ring the arena. The total surface area of the lower concourse will be doubled, while the total surface area in the upper concourse will be nearly tripled."
In the final phase, the article said, "two parallel bridges - one of the project's signature features - will be suspended over the length of the playing surface. The bridges, each 200 feet by 25 feet, will include concessions and seating that is vaguely reminiscent of the bleachers atop the Green Monster at Fenway Park. The bridges 'will be the first of its kind in the world,' said Murray Beynon, the lead architect on the project and a partner at Brisbin Brook Beynon."
Mr. Ratner told The Journal that the arena, which added 89 luxury suites in 1991, will have 30 percent more bathroom space and the new concourses "will be opened up with wide windows that have city views" and "the best of New York food."
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
6sqft delivers the latest on real estate, architecture, and design, straight from New York City.
