The Daytona International Speedway is zooming ahead on the largest renovation in the Florida venue’s 54-year history. Gleeds is serving as cost manager for the $400 million effort, dubbed “Daytona Rising,” on behalf of the International Speedway Corp.
Architect Rossetti will lead the improvements, which include five redesigned guest entrances, an extended grandstand with 101,000 new seats, and more than 60 new trackside suites for corporate entertaining. Eleven “neighborhood” areas spread over three levels of the communal concourse will provide open sightlines and dozens of video screens, allowing visitors to socialize without missing the action on the track. Barton Malow Company is the design-builder.
The vision for the redevelopment of the Daytona International Speedway front stretch places emphasis on the complete fan experience, beginning with five expanded and redesigned fan entrances, or injectors.
• Each injector would lead to a series of escalators and elevators that would transport fans to any of three different concourse levels.
• Each level would feature spacious and strategically-placed social areas, or “neighborhoods,” along the nearly mile-long front stretch.
• A total of 11 neighborhoods, each measuring the size of a football field, would enable fans to meet and socialize during events without ever missing any on-track action, thanks to open-sightline designs throughout the concourse and dozens of added video screens in every neighborhood.
• The central neighborhood, dubbed the “World Center of Racing,” would celebrate the history of Daytona International Speedway and its many unforgettable moments throughout more than 50 years of racing.
• Every seat in the Speedway front stretch will be replaced with wider and more comfortable seating, with more restrooms and concession stands throughout the facility.
The project broke ground in July 2013 and is targeted for completion in January 2016, in time for the 58th Daytona 500.
Related Stories
| Jan 4, 2011
Luxury hotel planned for Palace of Versailles
Want to spend the night at the Palace of Versailles? The Hotel du Grand Controle, a 1680s mansion built on palace grounds for the king's treasurer and vacant since the French Revolution, will soon be turned into a luxury hotel. Versailles is partnering with Belgian hotel company Ivy International to restore the dilapidated estate into a 23-room luxury hotel. Guests can live like a king or queen for a while—and keep their heads.
| Jan 4, 2011
Grubb & Ellis predicts commercial real estate recovery
Grubb & Ellis Company, a leading real estate services and investment firm, released its 2011 Real Estate Forecast, which foresees the start of a slow recovery in the leasing market for all property types in the coming year.
| Jan 4, 2011
Furniture Sustainability Standard - Approved by ANSI and Released for Distribution
BIFMA International recently announced formal American National Standards Institute (ANSI) approval and release of the ANSI/BIFMA e3-2010 Furniture Sustainability Standard. The e3 standard represents a structured methodology to evaluate the "sustainable" attributes of furniture products and constitutes the technical criteria of the level product certification program.
| Jan 3, 2011
Chicago Architectural Foundation’s media expert takes all 85 tours in one year
Jennifer Lucente, the social media expert at the Chicago Architecture Foundation has completed her year of taking tours—taking all 85 tours in 2010. The challenge that began last January with a tour of the Board of Trade building has ended today with the architecture foundation’s newest tour: Razzle Dazzle – featuring the Loop theater district followed by a celebration at the Chicago Theatre.
| Dec 28, 2010
Project of the Week: Community college for next-gen Homeland Security personnel
The College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, Ill., began work on the Homeland Security Education Center, which will prepare future emergency personnel to tackle terrorist attacks and disasters. The $25 million, 61,100-sf building’s centerpiece will be an immersive interior street lab for urban response simulations.
| Dec 20, 2010
Architect Adrian D. Smith on zero-energy cities, new technologies, and high density.
Adrian D. Smith, FAIA, RIBA, is co-founder (with Gordon Gill) of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, Chicago. Previously, he was a design partner in the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (1980-2003) and a consulting design partner from 2004 to 2006. His landmark structures include the Jin Mao Tower (Shanghai), Rowes Wharf (Boston), and Burj Khalifa (Dubai, U.A.E.), the world’s tallest structure. He recently collaborated with Gordon Gill to design the world’s first net-zero-energy skyscraper, Pearl River Tower, now nearing completion in Guangzhou, China. This account is based on his recent remarks at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
| Dec 17, 2010
BIM Tools Enhance Project Value
The Building Team for a renovation project at Georgia Tech uses BIM and 3D design tools to solve a complex millwork problem.
| Dec 17, 2010
Historic Rhode Island hotel reborn with modern amenities
The iconic Ocean House resort in Watch Hill, R.I., had to be torn down in 2005 when systemic deficiencies made restoration unfeasible. Centerbrook Architects and Planners, Centerbrook, Conn., designed a new version of the hotel, working with preservation societies to save or recreate favorite elements of the original building, and incorporating them into the contemporary structure. The new resort has 49 guest rooms and 23 residences, plus banquet halls, a corporate boardroom, a private clubroom, a spa and fitness center, an indoor lap pool, a bar, and the obligatory international croquet court. Dimeo Construction, Providence, R.I., was the construction manager.
| Dec 17, 2010
Gemstone-inspired design earns India’s first LEED Gold for a hotel
The Park Hotel Hyderabad in Hyderabad, India, was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to combine inspirations from the region’s jewelry-making traditions with sustainable elements.
