CLEVELAND
More than 12,000 tons of steel have gone into the Cleveland Medical Mart & Convention Center, a key Cleveland development that just celebrated its official “topping out” ceremony.
A “topping out” ceremony is a big moment during the construction process. It celebrates the installation of the last steel beam of a project. This particular steel beam will be marked by an evergreen tree decoration, a symbol of growth and good luck. The U.S. flag and the signatures from ironwokers and construction crews will also mark this beam.
Slated to open in August 2013, the $465 million Cleveland Medical Mart and Convention Center will feature a 230,000-square-foot, L-shaped exhibition hall, 92,000 square feet of meeting space, a four-story atrium in the Medical Mart and a 30,000-square-foot grand ballroom with views of Lake Erie.
Turner Construction Company, the developer of the project, sent out some interesting information about the new mall and convention center: if you placed all the steel beams in the project end to end, they would stretch all the way from Cleveland to Cincinnati. Also, it would take 17 football fields to fill the entire facility once it is complete.
