The Amway Center began its journey on July 26, 2007 when the Orange County Commission approved a public building program in a 5 – 2 vote. This program included a new events center, performing arts center and renovation of the Citrus Bowl Stadium.

On July 25, 2008, the stadium started taking physical shape as Hunt Construction Group, in association with Rey, Albu, HZ and Burns alongside architect Populous and owner Orlando Magic, held the official groundbreaking. The then unnamed facility became Amway Center on August 5, 2009.

The Amway Center was designed to reflect the character of the community, meet the goals of the users and build on the legacy of sports and entertainment in Orlando.

The building’s exterior features a modern blend of glass and metal materials, along with ever-changing graphics via a monumental wall along one façade. A 180-foot tall tower and spire serves as a beacon amid the downtown skyline.

At 875,000 square feet, the new arena is almost triple the size of the old Amway Arena. The building features a sustainable, environmentally friendly design, unmatched technology, featuring 1,100 digital monitors and the largest, high-definition scoreboard in an NBA venue as well as multiple premium amenities available to all patrons in the building. Every level of ticket buyer will have access to: the Budweiser Baseline Bar, Club Restaurant, Nutrilite Magic Fan Experience, Orlando on Demand Info Garden, Kid’s Zone, and multiple indoor-outdoor spaces which celebrate Florida’s climate.

The Magic were major financial participants in the public-private partnership – contributing $50 million toward construction of the Amway Center, $10 million toward the arts center, and $25 million toward construction of five community recreation centers. The Magic’s other contributions toward operations, fundraising and financing push the team’s total participation to more than $150 million.

In a historic move, the Magic agreed that Amway Center would be designed and constructed to meet the certification criteria for an environmentally “green” building development standard.

“We want this facility to not only serve our community but to reflect our community’s values,” Magic Chief Operating Officer Alex Martins said.

“Over the past three years, we have focused on revitalizing the Parramore neighborhood and have experienced a resurgence in our downtown,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer as the design for the building was unveiled on December 11, 2007. “Today marks another important day in our efforts, as the facility takes shape with the design unveiling of this new landmark…a landmark that will be a gathering place for all of Orlando and Central Florida.”

“In designing the community’s new center we feel we have created the framework for a facility that will be the catalyst for economic revitalization in downtown’s west side, while establishing a flexible design that will serve as a great home and attract the nation’s premier events,” added the Magic’s Martins. “The building has a design unique to Orlando, while providing a framework for environmental sustainability.”

“We took a hard and long look at the essence of Orlando before coming up with a design that we believe reflects the best and most distinctive aspects of this community,” said AIA, Populous Sport Senior Designer Brad Clark. “And just as importantly, the building will set a new standard in sustainable design as one of the greenest professional sports facilities in the country.”

To celebrate Central Florida’s moderate climate, the building is filled with a variety of indoor-outdoor spaces. For instance, once guests enter the voluminous, 80-foot-tall main lobby, they are able to return to the outdoors via a spacious balcony overlooking Church Street.

Local architecture firms C.T. Hsu + Associates and Baker Barrios Architects, Inc. assisted Populous with the arena’s design, with C.T. Hsu + Associates serving as exterior architecture consultant and Baker Barrios Architects serving as the interior architecture consultant. Both firms were selected as part of the minority and women-owned business initiative for the project. Minority and women-owned architecture and engineering firms comprised 31 percent of the design work.

The massive construction project served as a boon to the local construction business in a time when jobs were scarce because of the sharp downturn of the nation’s economy.

The Magic and City of Orlando worked closely with local minority and women-owned businesses — some of which were based out of the nearby Parramore community — awarding them with 34 percent of the contracts totaling a whopping $90-plus million.

Of the 169 minority and women-owned firms which work to construct the facility, 65 were African-American-owned firms, 48 women-owned firms, 34 Hispanic-owned firms, 20 Asian-American-owned firms and two Native-American-owned firms.

Sustainable design and construction specifics focused on the opportunities to create an environmentally friendly building in various categories. Among them: providing water efficiency; optimizing energy and atmosphere protection; conserving materials and resources; monitoring indoor environmental quality and health; and selecting environmentally preferred operations and maintenance. These elements combine to create one of the most environmentally friendly, high-performing professional arenas in the country.

Inside the arena, patrons will find modern amenities in a comfortable setting – perfect for hosting family events as well as basketball games. Concourses are spacious, offering unique concessions and activities for kids and adults alike. The public bar on the main concourse will overlook the event floor, and children will enjoy spending time in the kid-oriented fun zone and retail opportunities on the upper concourse.

The Magic’s old home, Amway Arena, housed 17,500 seats in just 367,000 square feet of space. The new arena features 875,000 square feet of space – more room to incorporate more modern day amenities found in most professional arenas of the day – and seating which will be expandable to more than 20,000 seats to accommodate major national events.

The new $380 million facility has 60 suites, 1,400 club seats, seven levels, 37 restrooms, retail stores and one concession point of sale for every 125 spectators.

Populous, formerly HOK Sport, has vast experience in arena design, including 32 professional arenas, 48 civic arenas and 56 collegiate arenas. The firm’s experience includes such recent urban arenas as Pepsi Center in Denver; Toyota Center in Houston; and Philips Arena in Atlanta.

Hunt Construction Group, rated by Engineering News Record as the #2 builder in sports, has built 53 arena projects to date. Some recent projects include Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, PA; INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita, KS and Cedar Park Event Center in Cedar Park, TX.

Amway Center is on schedule for completion this fall.