NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Giant 200-foot cranes are now in place on the Poydras Street side of the Superdome as Phase 3 of a $450 million off-season renovation project gets underway. Main entrances are being converted into giant atriums with escalators to speed fans to their seats.
“You’ll have club seats on the sidelines. You’ll have new spaces, better food service, amenities and faster travel in the stadium,” said ASM Global/LSED Media Relations Director Mike Hoss.
That faster travel will be made possible by massive new escalators in two atriums now being built along Poydras Street in the corners of the dome that will send fans from the second floor straight to the fifth.
Phase 3 of the renovation project will also see the relocation of the team store to a location on Poydras Street near the ground-level ticket window. It will also include wider concourses, made possible by the removal of 80,000 square feet of pedestrian ramps.
The work follows three years of renovations in the 47-year-old stadium, all designed to help the dome keep up with other newer stadiums and stay in the running for future Super Bowl games.
Previous renovations built out new fan zones in the cut-out corners of the upper terrace level as well as new locker rooms, ground-level club seats, and a new commissary.
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“They designed this building with pencils and protractors with nothing to model it off of except for the Astrodome and that is in mothballs right now,” said Hoss.
The new team store will be open this fall, but most of the atrium renovations will not be completed until the 2023 football season and another major event shortly afterward.
Dome renovation projects must be done outside of football season and around big events. This current phase did not begin until the NCAA Final Four concluded just over a month ago. Crews will have to clear out construction gear for Essence Fest in early July.
The Superdome renovation work is being done by Broadmoor Construction under the guidance of Trahan Architects.
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