Some interesting facts about the Pyramid;
-The campus spent 17 years trying to get State funding for a new “gym”. The two existing gyms were built in the 50’s, were meant for a campus of 5,000 FTE (full time equivalent students). During that time the campus analyzed almost all new arenas built in the US. That included ones with inflatable roofs, geodesic domes, as well as traditional construction methods. This analysis included various systems needed for these buildings to function as both a PE teaching facility as well as a sports venue.
-Jon Reginer was able to get funding for the facility, but unfortunately at a very low funding point. At that time Long Beach was the only campus to ever get funding for a few “PE” facility once their original one was funded. It really hadn’t mattered if the campus had out grown their initial facility or that we had grown past five times our original masterplan enrollment target. Except for facilities built by student fees were students control the usage (San Jose State, San Diego State) most CSU campuses are still using their original facilities.
-Once the campus got the funding, President McCray insisted on an iconic building. In short he would not allow a box. Jon Reiner selected a local architect, Gibbs and Gibbs to design the nearly impossible task of an iconic design on a very limited budget. Gibbs, after a great deal of analysis proposed an Pyramid.
-The initial design was much smaller that what was actually built. It included only two levels, there was no grade level where the current offices, Strength complex, nor Pointe are located. Additionally, these was zero storage, concessions spaces, and much of the mechanical systems were outside and underground in open pits. This was the design that received preliminary Trustee approval.
-Fortunately, the University realized that it only had one opportunity with this limited funding and with great foresight and courage from then Administrative VP Bill Griffith the design was changed to what was actually built. This required that two separate projects (Student Housing Conference Center (now the Point) and the fitness center were moved to the Pyramid. While this helped with funding much more funding was still needed to complete the initial facility. Buy the time the building opened 11 different campus funding sources were utilized. No private funds were used as none were available as neither efforts by University Development nor the Athletic Dept. had been successful.
-Just prior to bidding Gibbs informed the U that the building was over budget. When asked how to get within budget Gibbs proposed a design-build option of the space frame for the structure. The University included this in the bid documents. This was the first time a design/build option for a major structure component had been used in CSU bidding. One construction firm, Nielson Construction of San Diego, utilized this option was was the lowest bidder and awarded the contract. The Chancellors Office latter tried to claim that this design/build option was not allowed. However, the campus obviously prevailed on this issue.
-The contract was awarded to Nielson but President McCray decided, without counsel to move the building South more than 100 feet and East about half that amount. That required that nearly a third of the contract drawing to be redone. It should be noted that the residential area north of the campus tried to stop construction, after bid and contract award when the Athletic Director was quoted with the building being 19 stories tall. Even though the campus had followed all SEQA requirements through the building design process, the quote raised a real sh.t storm with the community. Further the original Structural Engineer (hired by the architect) went out of business and a new firm had to be hired to approve contractor submittals. The new engineer found various structural issues ( not including the actual space frame) which require additional change orders that wiped out the project contingencies. All projects require a contingencies (funds) to cover contract changes. The only substantial item that could be removed and added latter was the wood floor on the arena floor and the fitness center (about 30,000 sq. ft.).
-Construction began in December of ’92. While most low bid contractors are awful to deal with Nielson was a pleasure. More on that latter.
-The Building (Arena) was officially opened November 30, 1994 with a televised game against Memphis State. During the course of the project the campus added numerous items to make the building functional. At the time of bid and initial contract approval the concourse level was bare concrete (no concessions stands, restrooms, etc), no seats, scoreboard, etc. Additionally, no construction plans are perfect so changes had to be made during the course of construction.
Buy mid “94 the building was contractually obligated to be completed by late February. ’95. However, even though Athletics had a representative in each weekly meeting and knew the completion date, then Athletic Director, David Obrien, went ahead and signed a binding ESPN contract for the Nov. 30th televised game. Nielson, the contractor, agreed to expedite and modify a large percentage of work to accomplish that task (for the arena area only) at no cost to the Univ. This could have been a very costly change order with any other contractor.
-Construction funding for the Pyramid, the cost to actually construct the building, and not including the Architectural and Engineering (plans) was almost $11 mil. Even in the early 90’s this was a partly sum. By the time of completion this cost was approximately $18 mil. As mentioned early 11 different funding sources were used. But it should be mentioned that the 49er Shops paid for all concession building costs and the seats were financed with the Athletic Department initially to pay the costs from revenue over time. The campus eventually stepped in and payed off this cost.
-After bid and contract signing, the City of LB offered the campus the Spruce Goose Dome. All the campus had to due was disassemble, move to the campus, and errect. In due diligence the campus contacted the manufacturer of the dome and determined that the process of disassembly, moving, reassembly would cost far more than the entire finished cost of the Pyramid. This cost did not include the actual cost of construction within the dome for seats locker room, etc.. Additionally the dome is very large so that a 5,00 seat arena would only cover a small portion of the interior space under the dome and wouldn’t come close to fitting on the entire site around the existing structure.
-Now to the present. The roof, was designed with a 30 year life. This is about average for most roofs, metal or not. The campus over the past few years has tried various options for a temporary fix. Based upon current events these attempts apparently have not worked. The campus has spent a lot of time, effort, and funds trying to find a temporary solution. On this forum contributors have mentioned all sorts of fixes including roof goop, a lining over the current roof, inflatable covers, etc. I realize that some of these ideas were put forward in good faith but real world solution are rarely simple. The space frame has limited capability to handle additionally load and I really doubt that anyone wants an the Pyramid to become a joke due to a clown show “fix”. This building is an icon both for the campus and the city. In terms of removing the pyramid roof and replacing with a conventional box structure I sincerely doubt that would be more cost effective than replacing the roof. However, the idea of replacing the existing building with a new building has been mentioned by VP Appel. However, he has provided no details and I suspect that none are available. Again, the cost of demolition of the existing structure and construction of a new structure will most likely be far more expensive than replacing the existing roof. To be clear, replacing the existing roof is not a simple task. The metal roof supports the existing insulation and the fire code required the dry wall on the inside of the building be 25 feet above any occupied space. When the roof is removed the inside of the building must be protected from the elements and from the construction itself. Additionally, various code upgrades would be required such as improved insulation.
-The bottom line is that the University must face the problem that the Pyramid roof needs to be replaced. Spending millions on a temporary fix is not a prudent solution. This is a General Fund building so that the cost of the fix should not be born by the department using the building. While the cost is high, the campus wouldn’t ask the College of Business to pay for a roof replacement or major repairs of their building, I know of no example where a GF department was required to pay for repairs to a building on our campus or within the CSU.
-Delaying the replacement will only add to the cost due to inflation and added water damage. The campus already has one slip and fall claim and I suspect this problem will not go away if the issue isn’t addressed. Adding to this the reputation damage that this issue has on the campus and Athletic Dept. The existing issue is also costly due to revenue loss to the Athletic and cost to deal with the leaks from the Beach Services dept.

-I was hoping that the University would issue some sort of statement on the the problem, including what has been done, what is being done now, and what will happen in the near future. I still hope that the campus will provide this information. In the mean time I wanted to try and provide some back ground information