Crews celebrate Central Bank Center milestone with ‘topping out’ ceremony

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - It’s a sign of progress, the Central Bank Center celebrated a milestone with a ‘topping out’ ceremony:

We’re live for our “Topping Out” Ceremony via Facebook Live! The ceremony will celebrate the construction workers and the safe completion of Phase 1 of the Central Bank Center Expansion Project. The final beam will be lifted into place by crane and, in keeping with construction tradition, be adorned with a live Evergreen Tree and an American Flag.
Posted by Rupp Arena on Thursday, September 10, 2020

Crews placed the final beam on the center, a construction tradition.

“It’s pretty exciting for us and the workers,” said Mark Hill, Vice President of Messer Construction.

The final beam crews added Thursday will create a new look downtown. It’ll include stakeholders' signatures, an American Flag, and a live evergreen tree. That tree represents good luck and prosperity, definitely something the Cats want in Rupp Arena.

New Convention Center Topping Off
Check out this one-of-a-kind view of the special topping off ceremony today for Lexington's new convention center at Central Bank Center. Read more about it here: https://bit.ly/3ijiN6t
Posted by WKYT on Thursday, September 10, 2020

The ceremony marks a significant milestone for the expansion project. It’s been more than two years since construction started on the Central Bank Center.

As we reported earlier this year, crews were a little bit behind schedule, but without any events happening because of the pandemic, they were able to catch up and get back on schedule.

Hill calls this moment a milestone but says he knows there’s still a lot of work to be done.

" And I think everybody is seeing the headways come down and now we’re doing the demolition in between the Hyatt in Rupp Arena and will just start working our way there with structure and enclosure of the building," Hill said.

The $300-million project is expected to be completed in the spring of 2022.

Officials also say the construction will not interfere with games at Rupp Arena for the Cats' upcoming season.