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Ashley Hayes Reporting A 58-million-dollar project will make its official debut today.
The finishing touches are still being made to the newly expanded Salt Palace--now 679-thousand square feet of meeting and exhibit space.
But for the most part the facility is ready to go. There's even artwork on the walls.
This project was pulled off in just 22 months. At 58 million dollars, the Salt Palace general manager said the project came in a couple million dollars under budget.
The expansion required 750 workers with Bodel Construction. They installed more than 15-thousand square feet of glass; 336 miles of electrical wire; 46-hundred tons of steel. There's enough carpet to cover the football field at Rice-Eccles, twice! And, there's 26,000 cubic yards of concrete. That's enough to build a sidewalk from here to Wendover.
All this is just in the nick of time for the nearly one-thousand exhibitors with the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market. They will begin filling up all of this space starting next week.
The expansion was done to accommodate the two outdoor shows held here each year, but it now creates other opportunities.
Scott Beck, CEO Salt Lake Convention & Vistors Bureau: "This expansion has already paid off. We've been able to maintain the repeat business with the Outdoor Retailers annual show, and we've been able to put new business into this building that we would never have been able to before."
It's also environmentally friendly. Special plumbing fixtures will save more than a million gallons of water each year.
The facility boasts the largest solar-power lighting system ever installed in Utah. 108 solar panels on the roof will light the underground parking garage. And with those lights on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the general manager says they are saving a lot of power.
There are still some little things to be completed inside; plus some larger art pieces that will be installed. But in terms of being "convention-ready," it is.
