Construction is humming along at the site of Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, and Monday marked a milestone as the last beams were put in place.
"It astounds me how quick it's come up," said Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price. "In the past year everyone in the city has watched this and piece-by-piece they've been watching the dome go on. It's exciting. Time is really flying."
To celebrate the beam occasion, a customary "topping out" ceremony was held complete with a tree placed on one of the beams. It's a tradition dating back more than 1,000 years when Scandinavian builders put tree limbs on the highest point of construction sites to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck. So far, the arena hasn't needed any luck in booking events as it already has visitors lined up through 2022, including March Madness!
"This can be configured from basketball to rodeo to concerts," said Price. "The worst seats in the house are actually very good. Adds a lot more suites, a lot more entertainment area."
The 14,000-seat arena is on track to open in November 2019. But before that, the next milestone workers are looking forward to is sealing the building so they can turn on the air conditioning!
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