The new seats at WesBanco Arena are about 70 percent installed, according to Greater Wheeling Sports and Entertainment Authority Executive Director Dennis Magruder.
WHEELING, W.Va. — The concourses at WesBanco Arena are lined with cardboard boxes full of seats waiting to be installed, a reminder of the work left to be done before those halls are lined once again with hockey fans cheering on their Wheeling Nailers.
Arena staff will be ready when that time comes, said Greater Wheeling Sports and Entertainment Authority Executive Director Dennis Magruder – and eager to show patrons the progress that’s been made during a transformational summer for the downtown venue, in the midst of a $6.3 million, sales tax-funded upgrade that includes all-new seating and a modernized facade and lobby area.
About 70 percent of the new seats are in place, according to Magruder, who said the renovation is moving along right on schedule.
When City Manager Robert Herron announced the main arena bowl would close for the summer to allow for the seat replacement, he said the plan was for the venue to be ready to reopen Aug. 26. While Magruder said the seating project actually could push into early September, that’s still in plenty of time for the season’s first scheduled event on the arena floor, a bridal show set for Sept. 27.
“We should be in real good shape,” Magruder said. “There’s a lot of work when you look at all the seats. It’s coming together quite well.”
That’s a good thing, because the arena has plenty of important dates ahead. Magruder said crews plan to begin making ice for the upcoming hockey season on Sept. 21, in time for the anticipated start of Nailers practices in early October.
The Nailers will host the Cincinnati Cyclones for their only home exhibition game on Oct. 9, and open their regular-season home schedule on Oct. 24 against the Brampton Beast.
The 2015-16 hockey season, as well as the arena’s other events over the coming months – from the OVAC Wrestling Tournament to professional bull riding – will have to co-exist with the facade project, originally projected to be a 12- to 16-month affair.
But Magruder said if the current pace continues, the work should be done by June 1.
Construction crews moved on site about seven weeks ago, and the changes came rapidly. The facade is covered in plywood to keep the weather out, and the concrete steps that once led to the front entrance are gone, replaced by a dirt-filled pit.
This week, construction workers have been pouring concrete for the new handicapped-accessible ramp to the northeast corner of the arena, completion of which should allow the arena to move its temporary box office – now located inside the Robert C. Byrd Intermodal Transportation Center, back inside the venue by early October.
That entrance will be part of the plan for temporary access during construction, but Magruder said it wouldn’t make sense to try and funnel everyone through that single point, and staff is still developing a plan to get fans in and out of the building.
“We want to have more entrances than that, so we’re working on the plan to see what makes sense,” he said.
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