Orchard Park, N.Y. (WBEN) - After a little more than three years of construction in Orchard Park, the new Highmark Stadium officially opened its doors on Tuesday with the milestone of substantial completion being reached.
While there are still a number of punch list items remaining to be completed at the stadium in the coming weeks and months, the state-of-the-art facility has been given the green light to operate and host football games and other related events.
For the folks at Populous, the design firm hired by the Buffalo Bills to lead the development of the stadium with their architectural services, substantial completion of the new Highmark Stadium caps off a goal several years in the making in Western New York.
"These projects, they take so many years," said Jonathan Mallie, managing director and lead designer for the Highmark Stadium project. "This is a five-year effort from when it started, and when I walk through, I think about the very first visioning session that we had with Terry Pegula and Kim Pegula, and the passion that existed in that very first meeting exists today. You can see that when the building opens."
Populous has been a familiar name to not only the Bills, but also Terry and Kim Pegula, with Scott Radecic having been on the team that has been involved in working with the Bills for more than 10 years.
"As a former player coming back as a professional and being able to contribute to the stadium experience - both at the old stadium and the new stadium - it's a fantastic way to contribute and be a part of the community, even though we don't live here anymore," said the project executive for the new stadium.
"I can't wait for 'Bills Mafia' and all the people of Western New York to be able to come into the building, to be able to see the vibrancy of the seating bowl, and to be able to feel how intimate and intimidating the stadium is. Kim and Terry had a vision from the very beginning that they wanted a stadium that was going to be the best in the NFL for watching football, and that permeates. Every aspect of the building, every place you are, every concourse you're on, every club you're in; no matter where you are in the building, you can turn your head anywhere you are, and you can see the field."
Having played with the Bills from 1987-89 as part of a 12-year career in the NFL, Radecic admits he had some ideas for the new stadium that he wishes he had as a player at the old Highmark Stadium, otherwise known as Rich Stadium at the time.
"I remember playing here in the 40-degree rain. The minute you go out onto the field early on, just to warm up and you get on the ground, next thing you know, you're wet forever. So we have designed, in part of the home team locker room, the largest home team warm up area of any stadium in the National Football League," Radecic explained with WBEN. "The reason we did that was in those extreme days when you want to make sure that every player has done all their warm up to their best, so when they come on the field they're ready to play, We didn't want the weather or the grass or the wet or anything like that to be any type of a negative influence on not being prepared, not doing the full warm up. So, being able to throw a ball 45 yards, being able to do your Pilates, being able to do anything that you need to do beforehand. There's hot and cold tanks, there's saunas and steamers. There's anything that a player needs for before game warm up or after game recovery that's all been built into part of that."
Mallie feels having Radecic as part of this massive project was a key piece to making the new HIghmark Stadium into something truly special.
"The fact that he played for the team and he has that special insight as to what it means to be a player, when you have that kind of thinking merged with architectural design and you bring something together with a passionate ownership group, it's a recipe for something special," Mallie told WBEN.
While Populous is a global design firm with projects all around the world, Mallie and Radecic both admit the new Highmark Stadium project will be a special one for years to come.
"For me, personally, it's the most significant project that I've been involved in," Mallie said. "I've been involved in some significant ones, but this one due to its scale, its size, the fan base - there's a passion in this fan base that is just second to none, I think, in the world - when you have those kinds of ingredients, it elevates things quite a bit."
"I remember over the years - I'm in my 35th year now of doing this - there have been lots of really magical projects. And some have been for former teams, whether it's been for Penn State or for the Indianapolis Colts. But this project has got to be one of my top projects," Radecic added. "To be able to deliver a brand new building, as Populous, to the people of Western New York, to come back to a team that we used to play with and be a part of what that future fan experience is going to be, knowing that the stadium will help to create moments and experiences, and will create memories young people will have with their mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, all that type of stuff; it's really extraordinary."
What do both Mallie and Radecic feel Bills fans should be most excited for when they walk into the new football-first facility for the first time?
"The old Highmark Stadium was very open, the seating bowl was very relaxed. And yet, it was extremely loud. The new Highmark Stadium, the fans are incredibly close to the field, and the verticality of the entire seating bowl, it's going to have an intimate and an intimidating feeling that'll be second-to-none in the world. It's going to be loud," Mallie answered.
As for Radecic, it's the design of the concourses that he feels will enhance the fan experience for "Bills Mafia" like it's never seen before.
"They're open concourses, meaning that we've put all the amenities on the outer perimeter, so that as you walk any of the concourses, you can just turn your head and you can see the field. You're always connected," the Populous global director said. "The old stadium, once you left the seating bowl, you could not see the field. No matter where you were in the building, you just couldn't see the field. So one of the things that we wanted to do was give everybody who's in the building, no matter where they are in the building, that connection to the field of play, to a scoreboard, to a video board, to something. So no matter where you are in a building, you have that experience, and I think that's just going to be a game-changer for people over the next couple of decades."
What is the favorite element of the new stadium for Mallie and Radecic, now that it is ready to host football games?
"The exterior of the stadium and the building form responds to the wind, and in many ways, the design was conceived of form-following performance. The building performing to mitigate the weather conditions. We really think we've accomplished that here, and it shows up in the way it looks," Mallie said.
Meanwhile, Radecic can't pinpoint one specific item with the new stadium that stands out from the rest.
"I think about being able to bring natural grass to the players, and that's a big deal. The heating system, this certain hybrid bluegrass, it's made for this part of the country, it's going to hold up well," he said. "Think about the intimacy of the seating bowl, I mean, it feels like you're walking into the old Roman Coliseum. Everybody's vertically on top of you, it's really intimidating. The open concourse is being connected, the skin of the building, the roof, the protection. We're in an outdoor stadium, but this building is going to help keep people just a little warmer, just a little drier than they've ever been for the last 50 years. So there isn't a thing - the Family Circle, the bison statues that are coming in, paved parking lots, there's trees and sidewalks and paved parking - it just didn't happen on the other side of Abbott Road. So you've got to put the whole thing together, and it's really just a magnificent building for a great fan base. We're excited for them to come in and start to enjoy it."
