After odd gap of nearly three months, arena construction monitor finally issues report: arena schedule met, thanks to overtime push

After delivering Arena Site Observation Reports on a monthly basis for more than two years, Merritt & Harris, construction consultant for the Barclays Center arena bond trustee, somehow skipped releasing reports for October and November.

So the report released yesterday, dated 11/30/12 and based on a visit on 10/24/12 (after the arena opened), was #32 in a series, with the previous one #29, as indicated in the graphic above.

It's an odd omission; was it merely carelessness, a technical glitch, or were the reports not released to avoid letting some factoid see light?

Message: all's on schedule

One message from this latest report is that everything was and is on schedule: "The Contractors have demonstrated that although the schedule was tight, they made a concerted effort through additional manpower and overtime to meet their designated substantial completion dates."

Then again, the report says that the arena got a TCO (Temporary Certificate of Occupancy) as of 9/2/12, though it actually was granted 12 days later, on 9/14/12.

Punch list work on the arena continues through 2/28/13. The report cites 110 workers "during this period."

Curtain wall defects persisted?

Curiously, the multiple relatively minor defects in the arena curtain wall identified in a sub-consultant's report last March were identified in a new report from that same sub-consultant in September.

"Submittal of subsequent reports indicating acceptance and sign-off of all corrective work will be made available by the first week of October 2012," states Merritt & Harris, without actually confirming that they were made available.

Construction progress chart: arena

Below, the previously issued chart from 9/11/12. Note that in the earlier chart actual spending exceeded projected spending by July 2012, but in the current chart that didn't happen until August. The charts seem under regular revision.

Construction progress chart: transit connection

Note that the above chart extends the buildout until December, rather than September, as in the previously issued chart on 9/11/12, below.