Jim Mandelaro

RIT's hockey teams will move into the Gene Polisseni Center this fall

The new arena will cost $38 million and have about 4,000 seats

Season tickets will go on sale in July

RIT will still play its men's homecoming game at Blue Cross Arena in downtown Rochester

The walk from Lou Spiotti's office to the Gene Polisseni Center takes only a few minutes. Yet the RIT athletic director avoids it like a beehive.

"Sometimes I'll go three weeks," he says. "Because I want it to take my breath away. And it does, every time."

The Polisseni Center is a work in progress. Construction began last August and will be completed by early September. It will be the new home of the RIT men's and women's hockey teams, who are vacating 46-year-old Ritter Arena for their new digs.

"We loved Ritter," men's coach Wayne Wilson says, "but this is going to be a special place, too."

The women get first crack at the new arena with an exhibition game against Pursuit of Excellence Hockey Academy on Sept. 29 and the regular-season opener Oct. 3 against Union. The men follow with an exhibition against Brock University on Oct. 4 and their lid-lifter against St. Lawrence on Oct. 10.

As a recent tour inside the new ice palace showed, the differences between Ritter and the Polisseni Center are startling.

Ritter seats 2,100. The Polisseni Center will feature about 4,000 individual seats, including 290 club seats. There also will be 300 standing-room-only slots. The student section will be general admission and hold about 1,300 in bleachers, but the rest are individual seats and most will be reserved.

"Fans won't have to get there extremely early to get a seat," says Jordan Steffan, RIT's assistant director for sales and marketing.

The building sits on 651 steel pipes that are approximately 40 feet in length. The pipes rest on bedrock approximately 40 feet below the building. The new rink is regulation sized: 200 feet by 85 feet. That's 15 feet longer than Ritter. There are two high-definition videoboards, each 23 feet by 13 feet, at the far ends of the arena. But in a bit of a surprise, there will be no videoboard hanging over center ice.

"A nice, unobstructed view," Spiotti says.

There will be six luxury suites, which is six more than Ritter. Four of them, featuring 16 tickets and two parking passes per game, are attached to the Club Lounge, which will feature a full buffet and bar. Another is called the Bunker Suite, a private room under the bowl itself with reserved seating in the stands. And there's a VIP Player Experience Box next to the team bench.

"You'll feel like you're sitting on the bench with the players," Spiotti says.

There are two concession stands, one more than Ritter, plus mobile kiosks with a variety of options. And while Ritter served a limited menu of hot dogs, popcorn and candy, the Polisseni Center menu will be much more diverse: The first-level concession stand will feature hand-tossed pizza, the second-level stand will offer chicken tenders with shredded cheese and "Tiger" sauce), hamburgers and hot dogs. And the mobile carts will offer pastries, ice cream, popcorn, hot dogs and Red Osier beef sandwiches.

Coca-Cola will be the beverage sponsor.

"It will be night and day compared to Ritter," Steffan says.

Barnes and Noble will have a permanent store in the venue and sell RIT clothing and promotional items. There will be 13 restrooms (fans at Ritter had access to two). And there will be a new RIT Athletics Hall of Fame on the lower concourse.

But bigger is not always better. Wilson requested that his team's locker room be smaller than the one constructed three years ago at Ritter.

"We went from such a small place to one that is really too large," he says. "The new one is just right."

'Not a bad seat'

LeChase Construction has built the arena literally from the ground up, employing between 120 and 140 mostly local workers. The building is more concrete jungle than hockey paradise right now, but project manager Rich Laudisi says LeChase is right on schedule to finish on time.

"And given the harsh winter we had, that's saying something," he says.

Laudisi, an RIT graduate, says the concrete is anywhere from 10 to 34 inches thick across the entire footprint of the building.

"There's over 5,000 yards of concrete in this foundation system," he says. "What made it a challenge was an early and hard, cold winter ... getting that much concrete in the ground and maintaining 40 degrees while doing it."

Now it's summer, and the countdown has begun. RIT is expected to assume its certificate of occupancy Sept. 9. Three weeks later, the women play the first game in the new arena.

"I believe the average fan will notice right away the abundance of circulation space, easy access to the concessions and restrooms," Laudisi says. "They'll certainly be wowed once they reach the second level and look down at the seating bowl and ice. There's not a bad seat in the house."

The total cost of the arena, located at the south end of the campus, is $38 million. RIT is approaching $10 million in fundraising and still happily taking donations at www.rit.edu/powerplay. You can even buy a seat.

The university is financing the project and officials stress that no tuition dollars will be used. The arena will have a business plan (concessions, rental, etc.) that brings in a steady revenue stream. The Genesee Figure Skating Club, for instance, will use the Polisseni Center as its home ice.

Good old Ritter, home to three hockey national champions, will be used internally for instructional programs, recreational hours for students and public skating.

"It will be a busy place," Spiotti promises.

The locker rooms at Ritter — which look brand new — will be converted into athletic space and be used primarily by the men's and women's soccer and lacrosse teams. The lockers themselves will move to the Polisseni Center.

There will be about 275 parking spaces in Lot U outside the arena, including many handicapped spots. After that, parking will be distributed to S Lot down the road and D Lot, where fans attending games at Ritter once parked. Walkways are being constructed.

"Every road will lead to the Polisseni Center," Spiotti says.

And every top recruit, or at least Tigers coach Wayne Wilson hopes.

"I took the team on a tour after the season ended," he says. "They were in awe. I mean, Ritter is great, but Ritter is basically the rink. There is so much more here — for the players, the fans, everyone, really."

Let the countdown begin

Season tickets for men's games go on sale in early July and cost $450 (club level), $235 (reserved) and $185 (general admission). That includes 17 games at the Polisseni Center and the Brick City Homecoming game Oct. 18 against Boston College at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial.

There will be discounts for RIT students, faculty and alumni. Season tickets for women's games are $60.

Walk up pricing for the general public will range from $12 to $28 per ticket.

The homecoming game will remain in downtown Rochester, where it has sold out four consecutive years. Last year's game against Michigan sold out 15 days in advance.

"It has been very successful downtown, and having it in a larger venue allows more of our fans and alumni a chance to see the team," Spiotti explains.

The new arena is named after the late Gene Polisseni, a 1958 graduate of Irondequoit High School who founded youth hockey and football programs in his hometown and was a big Buffalo Sabres fan.

Polisseni, who died in 2001, was a lifelong friend of billionaire (and former Sabres owner) Tom Golisano. Polisseni provided the startup money for Paychex and later became a vice president with the future Fortune 500 company.

In November 2011, the Polisseni Foundation and Golisano combined on a $4.5 million donation to the arena fundraising campaign. Golisano said his late friend was the only reason he watched hockey, and he insisted that the arena be named in his honor.

Spiotti admits he's concerned that not filling the expansive arena will make for a quiet atmosphere instead of boisterous Ritter.

"I think about it," he says. "I think the first few years, the uniqueness and newness of the arena will sell it. Beyond that, we have to be successful and competitive. People will not be coming in if we're not winning."

The fun part of construction lies ahead. The dasher boards and the seats (gray and black theme) are expected to be placed in late July. The six-inch ice slab goes in the week of Aug. 11.

And then? Let the games begin.

"This will be, without a doubt, one of the top collegiate venues in the nation," Spiotti says.

JMAND@DemocratandChronicle.com

Twitter.com/jmand1

By the numbers

Facts and figures on The Gene Polisseni Center:

13 Bathrooms

1,200 Tons of steel

4,000 Seats

5,500 Yards of concrete in the foundation

12,000 Feet of sub-soil/foundation protection tubing (two-miles plus)

58,000 Feet of refrigeration tubing (about 11 miles)

67,000 Concrete blocks

70,000 Bricks

90,000 Pounds of ductwork

112,000 Total square feet