RNC gets the keys; time for an X-treme makeover

Goodbye, hockey arena. So long, Neil Diamond, R.E.M. and other rock concerts.

At least for a while, let's play ... politics.

The keys to the Xcel Energy Center were turned over to the national Republican Party this morning in an informal ceremony, as construction crews begin a multimillion-dollar, six-week makeover, transforming the complex into the home of the party's national convention, Sept. 1 to 4.

After the arena's general manager Jack Larson handed over a ceremonial key to the facility this morning, about 100 workers began removing 3,500 seats and turning the hockey/concert venue into a massive TV studio where Sen. John McCain will be nominated as the Republican Party's candidate the first week of September.

Xcel Energy Center Senior Operations Director Mark Stoffel said that the zamboni has been put in secure storage and 30 of the 72 suites will be stripped of seats and furniture and converted into TV studios.

About 50 construction supervisors from the Freeman Corp. have come up from New Orleans, but national project director Greg Lane said that the general contractor is working with local carpenter, electrician and other unions. About 100 workers were onsite Monday, but the workforce is expected to swell to 500 as the convention nears.

When the convention ends over the evening of Sept. 4, not long after John McCain waves one last victory sign and the final balloon drops, crews will begin a two-week tear-down. The next event will be a state superintendents conference at the St. Paul RiverCentre on Sept. 18.

Truckloads of cable and telephone equipment will pull up to the Xcel this morning.

Over-the-road drivers are tentatively scheduled to begin unloading equipment on Tuesday.

Today, in one of the first jobs, workers will start removing the back three rows of seats on the Kellogg Boulevard side of the main level, to be replaced by platforms where television journalists will do live reports and interviews, with state delegations and the main podium in the background.

It will be a rush to get the complex far enough along for technical workers in the media to begin piling into the Xcel and adjacent RiverCentre on Aug. 4. Media trucks are scheduled to move into the nearby Travelers parking lot the week before, and one media company told Qwest it wants its operations up and running on Aug. 15.

Podium design hush-hush

Qwest alone is bringing in five trailers of equipment today as it starts to wire the Xcel. "You could probably run one or two corporations for the equipment we are installing," said Trent Clausen, director of operations for the Qwest network at the convention. The company has been developing its plans for 14 months.

People familiar with the Xcel will "see something they haven't seen before when they walk in here," says Joanna Burgos, the convention's press secretary.

Burgos walked a reporter through the arena on Friday morning, where workers were making the final touches for Neil Diamond's Saturday and Sunday concerts.

While Diamond's concert podium was at one end of the arena, the convention podium will be close to center ice with an assortment of bells and whistles that the GOP wants to keep hush-hush so there is some element of surprise.

Construction of the podium will begin in early to mid-August, with Burgos asking that the tentative date not be disclosed for security reasons.

More than 20 miles of cable will be strung through the complex to handle the data, telephone and video that will make this the most high-tech convention yet.

Massive media presence

Compared with Madison Square Garden in New York, where the Republicans held their 2004 convention, the Xcel has much more space. In 2004, construction crews had to raise the garden's main level by a full floor and put offices underneath. The RiverCentre and Roy Wilkins Auditorium will be transformed and wired for media work space.

One of the big construction jobs, starting this week, will be transforming 23 suites that look out onto the arena into mini-studios and work spaces for the television networks. Three rows of seats will be removed from the suites and drink stands torn out, to be replaced by platforms that will extend into the arena where television anchors will sit. Some suites will have glass enclosures. Nine suites are being created for television on the first level on the Washington Street side.

The upper level ordinarily used by sports media will be made available for radio broadcasters and bloggers.

A special sound system will be installed at the Xcel, not unlike what some concert bands do, said Burgos. The center's own sound system will be used as a backup. The GOP will also bring in additional lighting to light up the convention floor where delegates and guests are sitting, for television purposes. The 360-degree "ribbon board" with flashing lights, used during hockey games for ads, hype and promotions, will be used to advertise the party's political message, Burgos said.

Old pros in charge

Some members of the GOP's arrangements committee will move into existing offices at the Xcel this week, and more temporary office space will be built out during the week. Burgos said that staffers will move into the Xcel by stages, so that by the time of the convention, the 100 staffers will no longer be in a downtown St. Paul office building, but headquartered at the arena.

During the week of July 28, workers will begin construction on a bridge connecting the RiverCentre ramp to the Xcel that will carry coaxial, fiber optic and audio cable from the Xcel to television production trailers parked at the ramp. Burgos said the bridge construction will not interfere with traffic on Kellogg.

Handling this complicated construction project means that Freeman, the general contractor, will hold daily production meetings with the arrangements committee and other contractors. They are old pros. It's the sixth Republican convention for Greg Lane, the general contractor who works for Freeman, which is coordinating the convention makeover, and the 10th convention for Mike Miller, director of operations for the arrangement committee.