A $166 million project: Green Bay's Lambeau Field Atrium is taking shape!
GREEN BAY (WITI) -- The renovated Harlan plaza - along with the new Packers Pro Shop - will open to fans next Thursday at Lambeau Field -- and that means more construction work can begin on other parts of the stadium.
The new-look Lambeau Field Atrium is taking shape, and one Packers fan from Atlanta is thrilled.
"They're moving some things around to make it more fan friendly, and obviously bring in the revenue that we want to keep our winning team here," Paul Miller said.
The team is spending $166 million on the current phase of construction.
The Packers Pro Shop will move one floor down, to the ground level of the atrium. That space used to be home to the team's Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame will be split between the first and second levels of the atrium.
Curly's Pub will move down a floor to the current pro shop area.
The Hall of Fame is temporarily closed -- and Curly's Pub will also close for part of next winter. Both should re-open next April.
Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy says business in the atrium was slower this winter because of the construction - but he believes it will lead to better numbers in the long run.
"I think everybody that works for the Packers kind of feel like we're stewards, and we want to leave this iconic jewel of a stadium better than we found it," Murphy said.
The Packers say some of the plans for the new restaurant, which again will be in the existing Pro Shop space, are still in the works.
"We're working through the final design of those elements and that work will start this fall," Stuart Zadra, Hammes Co. Vice President said.
The construction company in charge of the project says much of the fabric of the stadium has been maintained.
"But it's going to be even much more of a presence than it had before," Zadra said.
All of the work at Lambeau is scheduled to finish next summer.
No tax dollars were spent on this most recent round of renovations, but the stadium tax is still in place. It is set to expire next year.