Kings Release New Arena Construction Schedule

Demolition at the Downtown Plaza will begin in late July.  There will be some changes to traffic lanes, parking, and bus stop locations.

Crews will set up barriers around the project and re-stripe part of L Street.  Utilities to the buildings to be demolished will be shut off.  By fall, there will be a "mass excavation of the site" followed by foundation work for the new arena.

There will be viewing windows on 5th Street and 7th Street.

L Street lanes at the site will shift to the left.  Bus stops on L Street between 5th and 7th will move to Capitol Mall between 7th and 8th Streets.  Parts of the J Street and 5th Street sidewalk will be closed.

The Kings say 99.5 percent of the drywall, wood, paper, concrete, asphalt, metal, and green waste will be recycled.

Some of the parking spaces in the three City-owned garages will no longer be available. Of the 3,700 spaces in three garages, 1,780 spaces will stay open in the Downtown Plaza West and Central garages. Three hundred spots in the Downtown Plaza East Garage will also remain available.

When demolition begins, the east garage entrances will be only accessed by the entrance at 7th and K Streets.

Through the winter and summer of 2015, crews will pour concrete and erect the steel framework of the arena.

In the Summer and Fall of 2015, the concrete, metal and glass required for the building's facade will be built.

Once the outside is completed, work will begin on assembling the interior.  

The building is scheduled to be completed before opening day of the 2016-17 National Basketball Association season.

The public will be notified 24-48 hours before the first phase of construction begins.

There is a website and a 24-7 project hotline.