New Rapid City arena expects to be fully enclosed by late April

Story by Rushmore Plaza Civic Center / Photo by Andy Greenman

It has been just over a year since ground was broken on the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, future home of The Monument’s expansion arena, and the aggressive construction schedule will continue into the fall of 2021. The pandemic has had little impact to the overall construction schedule at this time. Rather the impacts have been felt in job site protocols put in place to help keep workers safe and reevaluation of some design elements. An example of which was to incorporate more touchless systems throughout the facility.

Construction activities that are in progress include:

Steel Structure – Crane teams continue to erect the steel trussing and are on target to have this phase of the project completed in early February.

Enclosure – As the trussing has been placed it has been immediately followed up with crews working on both the ceiling enclosures and wall panels. Full enclosure is expected to occur by late April.

Dry Wall & Interior Finishes – This is a continuous process that has already started in areas enclosed and protected by precast. As the enclosure becomes complete, crews will begin working their way up, ultimately finishing up on the upper premium levels towards the second quarter of 2021.