Arena milestone marked with kudos
Topping-off ceremony celebrates workers as structural skeleton of new Milwaukee Bucks facility is completed
The largest crowd to assemble — so far — in the new Milwaukee Bucks arena celebrated the work of thousands who have brought the project along in a very short period of time.
Nevermind the speeches — Thursday’s event was all about people like ironworker Brandon Ladwig, who skillfully multitasked in a boom lift high in the arena’s rafters.
While operating the 150-foot lift from a basket, he caught the south end of a 49-foot beam, lined it up and used a jumbo-sized wrench on two bolts to make it a permanent part of the Bucks’ new home.
“I bet his hands are sweating,” said another worker in the crowd of about 1,000 who watched Ladwig and three other workers do the formalities at the arena’s “topping off” ceremony.
The boom lift has been Ladwig’s workstation for months, and he’s up and down all day.
“I’ve never done it with this many people here,” he said after the beam lift.
Ladwig said he was happy to be a part of the arena project, which has about 700 workers on site. “There are not going to be many more of this kind of building going up around here,” he said.
James Meaden, from Merrill Iron & Steel, helped create the structural steel that forms the skeleton for the massive building. He’s more accustomed to seeing the building on a computer screen in his office in Schofield 200 miles away.
“I was here when it was a big pile of dirt,” said Meaden, who attended the event with about 30 co-workers. “This is very impressive.”
“I want to bring my kids for a game or concert or Disney on Ice once it’s opened,” he said. “These are exciting projects once they are all done.”
The $524 million Bucks arena is being built with $250 million in taxpayer funding. It’s scheduled to open in about 14 months, in time for the 2018-’19 NBA season.
The arena is a little more than half completed and the topping off symbolizes the conclusion of the structural steel assembly.
The audience Thursday included scores of workers in safety gear bearing the names of companies such as Mortenson, JP Cullen, Staff Electric, Populous and Icon. They were all thanked collectively many times by speakers, among them Bucks President Peter Feigin, County Executive Chris Abele and Mayor Tom Barrett. And they got a catered lunch afterward.
Mortenson senior superintendent Denver Callahan singled out the ironworkers for the biggest hat tip of the day.
They worked skillfully, including Sundays, and didn’t miss time for a project that’s on track, Callahan said.
“Men and women — this is yours, OK?” Callahan said to cheers before the beam was lifted.
He concluded: “We’ve got work to do and we’ve got chicken that’s cooking and it’s getting cold. So let’s get going.”