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On Monday, dome is home again

After a $185-million rehab, the symbol of everything wrong in New Orleans will become a symbol of recovery.

By JOANNE KORTH
Published September 24, 2006

NEW ORLEANS - Sitting on the steps of a FEMA trailer parked in the front yard of his flood-ravaged home in the Lower 9th Ward, Roy Kitchens tucked a thick carpenter's pencil into his ball cap and reached around to pull out his wallet.

Affixed to the worn black leather was the gold fleur-de-lis helmet logo of the New Orleans Saints football team. Kitchens, 37, is a fan no matter how grim the outlook.

For the team, or for him.

Monday night, Kitchens will occupy a much more comfortable seat, his recently renewed Saints season ticket in an end zone section of the newly restored Louisiana Superdome.

One year after the city was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, its most visible landmark will reopen for a nationally televised NFL game between the Saints and Atlanta Falcons. An event of Super Bowl magnitude, the return of the city's beloved franchise provides a much-needed morale boost during the lengthy recovery.

"We've been down for so long, it's something to look forward to," Kitchens said. "We haven't had a game here in two years. It's going to be wild."

A New Orleans icon for 30 years, the hulking concrete Superdome became a disturbing symbol of destruction and human degradation in Katrina's wake. Its roof torn open by the storm's force, the dome was severely water damaged, its systems paralyzed. An estimated 30,000 evacuees who came seeking shelter spent more than six days trapped inside without lights, air-conditioning, running water, food or plumbing.

There were reports of violence and rape as people grew desperate and scared.

"That place was destroyed," said Leonard Hester, 55, an evacuee who spent five days in the dome. "It was so nasty and dirty in there. I never thought they'd play a football game in there ever again. I know it took a lot to fix it."

Total cost of the restoration when it is complete in August 2007 will be $185-million, including $116-million in FEMA funds earmarked for public buildings damaged beyond insurance coverage. The balance was generated through state agencies and a $15-million grant from the National Football League.

Paul Griesemer, senior project architect with Ellerbe Becket in Kansas City, led a damage assessment team that surveyed the entire building with flashlights, masks and protective Tyvek suits.

"Those first few days were pretty dramatic," said Griesemer, 45. "We were down here in a dark building and at every turn you would go in a door and go, 'Oh my God.' "

Griesemer and his team found pillows, blankets, trash and human waste. Amid the stench, standing water and hazardous mold growing like an out-of-control science experiment, Griesemer also found indications the building and its major systems could be salvaged.

Still, the scope of the project is staggering.

Cleanup began in October, less than two months after Katrina. Nearly 4-million gallons of water were extracted from the dome and its parking garages. Another 4-million tons of trash and debris were removed. The recovery took six months.

In March, construction began.

Roughly 75 percent of the roof, some 9.7 square acres, was replaced at a cost of $32.5-million. More than 10,000 pieces of steel decking were installed, then covered with 500,000 gallons of polyurethane foam spray and five coats of urethane. The new roof's bright white exterior stands out along the skyline.

Inside the dome, 45 percent of the building's sheet rock was replaced, 80 percent of the ceiling tile, 95 percent of the carpeting and the entire artificial playing surface. All 38 concessions stands were gutted and rebuilt.

All but 10,000 of the more than 70,000 seats in the main bowl were saved by tenting them in plastic and blowing hot air on them for two months to draw out moisture.

In addition, several improvements were made, including new video boards, scoreboards and scrolling message boards. The second phase of the restoration, the remodeling of 137 suites and four club lounges, will be ongoing through next summer.

By Thursday, four days before kickoff, all that remained were finishing touches. Blowers were set up to dry the letters painted in the end zone: S-A-I-N-T-S in black with gold outlining. The fire alarm was being tested. Music blared from the new sound system, each speaker timed to within a millisecond to eliminate reverberation.

"We wanted people to come into the building and feel a freshness," said Doug Thornton, regional vice president of SMG, the private company that manages the dome for the state. "When they stand in line to buy a hot dog, we don't want them to have images of Katrina and the devastation here."

Thornton supervised every stage of the project, yet is amazed by the transformation. He reported to work the day the dome was opened as a shelter and spent five days inside.

"I saw the dome at its darkest hour," Thornton said. "It makes me proud to be a New Orleanian. The people of New Orleans have had so much taken away from them, their jobs, their homes. It will be great for them to have their dome back."

The project took more than 1,000 workers, a maximum of 850 at any one time during the peak months of June and July. Among 35 subcontractors, 30 were local.

"It lifts the spirits of everybody after all the tragedy we went through," said Carey Galloway, 46, a drywall finisher and painter from Local 1244. "It's the grace of God they got everything back together."

During the restoration, the Saints, like so many New Orleans residents, were displaced. The team set up headquarters in San Antonio, Texas, and played "home" games there and in Baton Rouge. Rumors persisted that owner Tom Benson wanted to move the team permanently. Then-NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue made it clear, however, the league and the Saints would not abandon New Orleans.

The team's return Monday night is vital to the city, a sign that New Orleans is fighting its way back. Season tickets are sold out for the first time in franchise history. Even better, the Saints are 2-0 after victories at Cleveland and Green Bay.

"I've been in the 9th Ward talking to the families, victims who walked to the dome in waist-high water and stayed," said receiver Joe Horn, in his seventh season with the Saints. "Some people aren't coming to the game because they don't want to remember what happened when they stayed there. I understand that, 100 percent.

"I also (talked to) an 83-year-old man sitting on his porch who walked to the dome. He said, 'You know what Joe? I love the Saints and I'm going to face my fears. I'm going to go to the dome because I want this city to be built back up.' "

A year after the storm, the Saints are among the minority in moving back into their home.

The city's downtown business area and quaint French Quarter, a whopping 3 feet above sea level, were spared heavy damage caused when the levee system collapsed under the weight of water overflowing from Lake Pontchartrain to the city's north. But the nearby residential neighborhoods, many of which provided workers for the city's tourist-driven service industry, remain deserted. Block after block, mile after mile, gutted and collapsed homes still bear high-water stains and spray-painted numbers indicating the number of people found inside, dead or alive.

Sal Palmisano, a New Orleans native, was forced to gut his home in St. Bernard Parish after floodwaters reached 7 feet. But the rebuilding project has been on hold the past year while he worked seven days a week on the Superdome.

He felt, he said, a sense of purpose.

"It's going to be a morale boost for everyone in the city because it's been one for me," said Palmisano, 52, the senior project superintendent for construction manager Broadmoor LLC of nearby Metairie, La.

Palmisano has been a season-ticket holder for 38 years. Kickoff will be an emotional moment for him and his family in Section 209.

"I lost everything. We're renting an apartment, trying to get this done," Palmisano said. "After Monday night, I'll put my life back together. This is a major starting point. It's going to make everybody understand we're coming back. We're down, but we're going to get up and we're going to move forward here."

[Last modified September 24, 2006, 01:24:06]