Springfield firms play role in college football championship

The new $450 million University of Phoenix Stadium in the Phoenix suburb played host to college football’s Tostitos Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Day and the BCS National Championship game a week later. The Springfield connection comes outside of the stadium, in the form of a $110 million complex comprising a four-story media center, where more than 300 Fox Sports and other TV network employees scurried on game days, and an adjoining hotel, convention center and parking garage.

Springfield-based architecture firm Butler, Rosenbury & Partners Inc. and contractor The Killian Group LLC collaborated on the facilities for Springfield’s Hammons Hotels & Resorts.

Hammons Hotels owns the 320-room Marriott Renaissance Hotel that will open in August, while the city of Glendale owns the other three structures. Hammons Hotels assists the city with management of the media center, which opened Dec. 20, and the company will manage the 80,000-square-foot convention center and 940-space parking garage when it opens this month.

David Ruggles, senior vice president of operations for The Killian Group, said the Glendale project is the most exciting project Killian has ever been a part of, topping even Branson Landing, Hammons Field and Chateau on the Lake.

“It’s just been a wonderful opportunity to show what Killian can do,” he said.

Opening the door

Last summer, BRP, Springfield’s largest architecture firm according to Springfield Business Journal’s 2006 Book of Lists, decided to expand to Phoenix. BRP Vice President Doug Jackson moved there in October after months of spot visits to spearhead the effort.

The high-profile Glendale project has given BRP a lot of positive attention, and it opened the door for expansion.

“Anytime you can point to a landmark … and say that you were part of it, I think it just gives you more credibility,” Jackson said. “When I talk to people around the Phoenix valley, all we have to say is, ‘Well, our project is the new hotel and convention center and media center across from the Cardinals’ stadium.’”

After moving to Arizona, Jackson was consumed with finishing the media center before the Fiesta Bowl. More than 400 workers, twice the normal number, toiled away to get the building open on time.

With the media center open, Jackson has drummed up additional Phoenix-area business.

So far, he’s signed contracts to design three 300-space parking garages for condos in Phoenix. He’s also talking to half-a-dozen Phoenix-area developers about designing small- and medium-size hotels.

Jackson estimated BRP would have a physical office open and employees hired in Phoenix by the end of the first quarter.

Overall, Jackson said he’s happy with how quickly the expansion has moved.

“My guess is once the ball gets rolling, a lot of things will start happening,” he said.[[In-content Ad]]