Lambeau project has local ties

KANSAS CITY — Ryan Hoyt, 2002 graduate of Creston High School, plans to watch Sunday’s NFL Divisional Playoff bout between the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants from the living room of his home in north Kansas City.

The game, slated to kickoff at 3:30 p.m. on FOX, will be played in Green Bay, Wis., at historic Lambeau Field, the oldest operating NFL stadium, and the third-oldest operating venue in major sports behind Chicago’s Wrigley Field and Boston’s Fenway Park.

Hoyt said Wednesday he’s interested in the outcome of Sunday’s game, like many other Americans. He’s pulling for Aaron Rodgers and the reigning-champion Packers, but he also hopes to get a glimpse of the construction progress in the south end zone at Lambeau Field. Why?

Hoyt, employed as a BIM modeler for Thornton Tomasetti in KC, was one of several designers and engineers working on Lambeau’s newest addition currently being constructed. The project, which carries a total price tag of $130 million, will add four levels of seating in the south end zone and add 6,600 more seats to Lambeau Field in 2013.

“You should be able to see during the game Sunday that they’ve started construction,” Hoyt said. “It was a fun project for me because I’ve been mostly designing small warehouses or Walmarts. It will be cool to turn on the television, someday, see it completed and know I had a part in it.”

SWCC smart

Hoyt, also a 2008 graduate of Southwestern Community Community College’s structural engineering program, said his role in the project was to work with another designer and a team of engineers to transfer the architects one-dimensional paper drawings onto a computer and create a 3D model of the project.

The addition is welcoming news to more than 90,000 Packer fans currently on the wait list for season tickets.

“For those of us (working) in community college and post-secondary education, success stories like Ryan’s are the kind that almost send chills down your back,” said Bill Taylor, director of student services at Southwestern Community College. “The structural engineering technology program Ryan was in was taught by Al Binning, who is very knowledgeable in the field of structural design. It’s one of only three programs in the nation. This project has to be a highlight for Ryan. It certainly is a highlight for our program at Southwestern.”

The project also includes a new rooftop viewing terrace that club-seat holders can use on game days, along with new gates, elevators and access points for people with disabilities.

“We’re excited to begin work on the expansion of Lambeau Field,” Packers President Mark Murphy told ESPN, noting that additional seats will mean more game-day crowd noise.

Lambeau Field has gone through numerous renovations, updates and additions since opening in 1957 with 32,500 seats. It now has 73,128.

The new seats will be allocated through a seniority system. Current season-ticket holders will get first access with a chance to trade their existing seats, and priority goes to those who have held tickets the longest. After that, fans on the waiting list will finally get a chance they’ve spent decades waiting for.

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Story notes

• Hoyt also works with former Creston High School graduate Brent Herzberg at Thornton Tomasetti. Herzberg was a project manager on the Lambeau Field project. Herzberg is also a Southwestern Community College structural engineering graduate.

• Thornton Tomasetti has complete other sporting arena projects including Ford Field, home to the Detroit Lions, and American Airlines Arena, home of the Miami Heat.

• Binning quote about Hoyt, Herzberg: “You have a sense of pride when students from your program, like Ryan and Brent, go on to accomplish great things. We have a lot of students who are accomlishing great things across the country right now. Our program at Southwestern is currently a leader in the structural-engineering industry. I have a stack 1/2-inch thick in my office of job openings in the United States that our students can fill when they graduate.”