A total of 150 cubic yards of concrete was poured to create the ice floor to a thickness of six inches and weight of 560,000 pounds Thursday afternoon at the Minnesota Wild’s new practice facility in downtown St. Paul.

The rink, which also will be used by community groups, youth hockey organizations and the Hamline men’s and women’s hockey teams, is being built on what had been the top level of a parking ramp that serviced the one-time Dayton’s/Marshall Field’s/Macy’s building.

Macy’s pulled out of St. Paul in 2013. The building is being rebuilt from top to bottom, with the Wild taking the upper level for a practice facility and some of the basement level space for coaches’ offices and a workout facility. Leasing of the rest of the building is taking shape, as well. But today was about construction of the arena. Some fun facts on the construction of the Tria Rink at Treasure Island Center, as provided by the Wild:

  • The concrete was pumped up to the rink on Level 5 by a concrete pump truck located on Wabasha Street.
  • There is about nine miles of refrigeration two-inch diameter steel piping spaced four inches apart and welded together cast into the concrete for the ice floor.
  • The ice rink consists of eight inches of structural concrete, a waterproofing membrane, four inches of sand with heat pipes, six inches of insulation and the six-inch concrete slab.
  • To prepare the existing structure for the ice rink system, a structural concrete slab of eight-inches was placed on top of the existing roof-top parking slab. That was done to provide “stiffness” and to ensure the rink does not vibrate or deflect.
  • Roughly 25,000 eight-inch L-shaped bolts were used to pin that new slab to the existing concrete.
  • The concrete will now sit and cure for at least 28 days before refrigerant is distributed to the ice floor.
  • Arena dasher boards are scheduled for early-December installation, while the ice is scheduled to be added and painted in mid-December.
  • The rink will be a community asset, available for several ice-related sports . It will have six public locker rooms and seating for 1,200.
  • The Treasure Island Center development project is majority owned by Hempel Companies with minority ownership interest held by The St. Paul Port Authority.