Since Real Salt Lake began playing in 2005, it has been one of the most competitive and respected organizations in Major League Soccer. It has built relationships with clubs around the world and even hosted an exhibition game this summer against Manchester United (losing 2-1).
The club’s place in Utah culture is growing all the time.
Now, Geneva Rock is helping Real Salt Lake’s presence in the Salt Lake Valley grow even more — literally.
Geneva Rock supplied all of the site concrete, structural concrete and a sizable amount of the aggregates for the new, $60 million, 132-acre Zions Bank Real Academy in Herriman. The facility has 10 soccer fields, including the future home field of the club’s USL affiliate Real Monarchs as well as academy teams.
The facility also includes a charter school housing 300 STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) students, with 77,000 square feet of classroom space.
An impressive 208,000-square-foot indoor practice facility includes two more artificial turf fields and was built using footings poured with Geneva Rock concrete.
Wasatch Commercial Builders, led by Scott Overman, is the general contractor on the project and hired Geneva’s sister company — Sunroc — to complete the site work, including utilities and grading.
“We’ve had a long-standing relationship with Wasatch Commercial Builders,” says Ernie Thornton, project manager for Sunroc. “Not just us at Sunroc, but other Clyde Companies, including Geneva Rock and Sunroc Building Materials.”
Besides being a landmark facility in the world of soccer, the Zions Bank Real Academy is a feather in the cap of any construction professional who worked on it. Geneva Rock has been involved with well-known projects around the valley — including Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy (the home of Real Salt Lake) — but each is unique and brings satisfaction to workers at all levels.
“There’s something special about working on a unique project like this one,” Ernie says. “When you get the chance to work on a project that you may not replicate for the rest of your career, that’s exciting.”
The facility opened for students this fall and both RSL and the Monarchs are expected to relocate full-time in February 2018.
A DIFFERENT KIND OF FOOTING
Geneva Rock has long been known to supply concrete for strong footings that are the basis of solid construction. However, the sand supplied by Geneva is also used to ensure the quality footing of professional soccer players from around the world.
“We make a sand that meets USGA specifications for turf,” says Rick Newton, aggregate salesman for Geneva Rock. “We supplied it for the turf mixture at Rio Tinto Stadium and we were asked to do it again for the fields in Herriman.”
While the specifications can get technical, in general terms, the sand is mixed with organic material — usually peat moss — into a strong turf base that allows for the best playing sur-face possible while also assisting in moisture control.
“Being involved in this project — and with RSL again — says a lot about us as a company,” Rick says. “Our competition has good sand, too, but we have a great relationship with them and they know we will deliver and we will deliver on time. The price is right and we always have it available.”