Harford Community College Susquehanna Center Renovation and Arena Expansion

A Brand-New Experience for Fans & Student Athletes

This project consisted of the renovation of an existing athletic facility and the new construction of an arena and associated spaces. The existing building was a one story slab-on-grade steel framed structure with an area of approximately 47,000 sq. ft. and was made up of three large-volume spaces, a central high-bay zone that included a gymnasium, pool and fitness room, which was flanked on each side by single story zones which contained men’s and women’s locker rooms, showers, and offices.

During construction the entire building was stripped down to the slab/foundations, steel structure, and roof.

Building for sports and versatility

The new construction was approximately 50,000 sq. ft. built to the south of the existing building. It includes a new 2,500 seat arena with retractable seating, wood athletic floor, arena and field athlete locker rooms (home and visitor), concessions, ticket windows and public toilet rooms. The renovations in the central high bay included splitting the gym into a practice gym, dance studio, and two multi-purpose labs.

Making a splash on campus

The pool was renovated including new pool equipment, concrete deck, floor, wall, and pool tile and plaster, gutters and handicapped ramp into the pool. Locker rooms were added between the practice gym and the pool.

Optimizing building space

The fitness center was relocated over to the west wing where the building was expanded increasing the building space and enhancing the building front facade. The east wing was renovated as new classrooms, Student Lounge, referee locker rooms, and offices. Existing stairwells that ran along the east and west building sides were removed and decked over.

Breathing new life into the building envelope

Most of the existing building envelope was replaced. Masonry openings were re-pointed and all building windows and entries were replaced. Any existing masonry that remained was refurbished. All entrances were replaced with new aluminum and glass storefronts.

Elevating every detail

Sitework consisted of new parking lots with associated parking lot and site lighting, handicap and general public concrete ramps and stairs with railings, new sidewalks, and landscaping. A loading dock was added as a part of the Arena addition.

Lighted tennis courts were added as one of the selected Alternates along the east side of the project. The site package covered roughly 5 acres of College property and included relocation of existing utilities along with installation of site storm water drainage systems including pocket wetlands and overflow retention basins.