Fort Worth – Trail Drive Management Corp. (TDMC) Chairman Ed Bass, Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price and The Beck Group Chief Executive Officer Fred Perpall joined nearly 900 construction workers today to celebrate the topping out of Dickies Arena.

“We’re here today to celebrate an important milestone in the construction of this building, but even more so, we’re here today to say thank you,” Mr. Bass said. “Thank you to all of the 3,544 workers who have participated in building Dickies Arena so far. Who have contributed 1,839,564 man hours to bring us to the approximately 50% completion rate today.”

Beck’s Perpall acknowledged the Fort Worth community’s support and the dedication of the construction team, both at Beck and with the other subcontractors on the site.

“We like to say, we can build communities by building buildings,” Perpall said. “When we’re at our best, we can build people when we’re building buildings. And I’m really proud of the work our team has done here to integrate our local Fort Worth business community … it is truly only as a team that you can succeed.”

When Mayor Price took the stage, she highlighted the voter support in 2014 that has allowed Dickies Arena to come to fruition.

“They knew a growing city needed a beautiful arena,” Price said. “Not just for the Stock Show, but for concerts, for basketball, for graduations. You name it, we’ll have it here … This new arena is the perfect complement for our growing city.”

After thanking the construction team for 16 months of hard work, Mr. Bass involved everyone in attendance when he signaled the raising of the final, ceremonial beam.

A topping out ceremony is traditionally held when the last beam is placed at the top of a structure during construction. For some, the evergreen tree – which was displayed on the center of the beam – is a marker of good luck and prosperity for future building occupants.

Dickies Arena will bring a wide variety of programming to Fort Worth, including concerts, family shows, sporting events, community events and will be the new home to the Fort Worth Stock Show rodeo performances. The $540 million project is on schedule for completion in November 2019, and it will complement the current Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum, which will continue to serve as a major equestrian show arena.

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Dickies Arena will be a 14,000 seat, spectacular multipurpose venue located adjacent to the Will Rogers Memorial Center campus in Fort Worth, Texas. The facility is the result of a pioneering public-private partnership between the City of Fort Worth, Tarrant County, the State of Texas and a group of private-sector participants, including foundations, individuals and organizations. The arena will be owned by the City of Fort Worth and managed by the not-for-profit operating entity, Trail Drive Management Corp. (TDMC). The state-of-the-art arena, scheduled to open in November 2019, will host concerts, sporting events and family entertainment, and will be the new home to Fort Worth Stock Show rodeo performances. For more information, visit www.DickiesArena.com.