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May 18 | UTAH CONSTRUCTION & DESIGN | 3736 | UTAH CONSTRUCTION & DESIGN | May 18

itting in his private owner’s suite

at Rio Tinto Stadium moments

before a May 19 Utah Royals FC

match, Dell Loy Hansen is right in his

element, happily seated next to one of his

daughters – among other family, friends,

and RSL executives – trading twin toddler

grandchildren back and forth on his lap as

the game unfolds.

Hansen is one of Utah’s most

prominent movers and shakers in

commercial development, with a diverse

business empire built over four decades

that includes more than 40 companies

and 4,000 employees. But family comes

first – and with 10 children (six children of

his own, four others via a second marriage)

and 34 grandchildren, there are ample

opportunities to do so.

Hansen checks all the boxes when it

comes to being a successful businessman,

and his venture into professional soccer

and the sheer passion he exudes for the

sport mirrors his approach to past business

ventures – an attitude that screams “let’s

get this done” – and a confidence that

anything is possible through planning and

hard work.

“If you’re going to do something,

organize it, and get it done,” Hansen said,

ever so matter-of-factly, explaining that his

foray into professional soccer ownership

was struck up very casually in a meeting

with former Real Salt Lake owner Dave

Checketts September 5, 2009.

“I was sitting in about the same seats

we are now (in the owner’s suite), talking

with Dave and Michael Eisner (former

CEO) of Disney – they were talking about a

deal,” Hansen recalled. “It was the second

professional soccer game of my life, and I

still didn’t understand offsides that well.

He asked me if I wanted to buy part of the

team, and I said ‘maybe’.”

60 days later, Hansen bought 49% of

Real Salt Lake, and he bought Checketts

ought entirely in 2013. Within a year he

started the Real Monarchs – now in its

fourth year – and the academy began eight

years ago in Casa Grande, Ariz., before

moving to Herriman.

Hansen’s vision and ambition is

evident in spades when one considers his

latest project – the world-class, $75 million

Zions Bank Real Academy, a 47-acre campus

in Herriman that includes its new, 5,000-

seat Zions Bank Stadium, RSL Academy

High School ($11 million), housing for 50

student-athletes ($6.5 million), and eight

total soccer fields including the Zions Bank

Training Center, a mammoth 208,000 SF

indoor structure that houses two full-size

fields with unobstructed views.

The latter is the largest pre-

engineered free-span building in North

America, an engineering marvel designed

by Nucor Steel in Brigham City and erected

by Advanced Steel Systems of West Jordan

via four giant 480-ton cranes from Salt

Lake-based Mountain Crane, each working

together in perfect unison, a highly

complex system Hansen said was eloquent

to witness being erected.

“It was like watching a ballet – the

art was so perfect as they put those >>

REAL VISIONDell Loy Hansen has built and developed an impressive list of projects over five decades; the new $75 million Real Academy in Herriman just might be his crown jewel.

S

By Brad Fullmer

Dell Loy Hansen has much to smile about with the recent completion of perhaps his grandest development to date: the $75 million Zions Bank RSL Academy in Herriman. The project is highlighted by the campus’ 208,000 SF training center, which is the largest pre-engineered free-span building in North America and an engineering marvel. (inset courtesy RSL; facility by Dana Sohm, Sohm Photografx).


(structural truss pieces) together – the

crane operators were awesome,” said

Hansen.

“A significant amount of time was

spent in the early stages of design working

with structural engineers to design a

structure that would provide the indoor

fields the flexibility to function without

intermediate columns or impeding

structure,” said Jake Hill, Project Architect

for Salt Lake-based EDA Architects. “With

a width of 525 feet, a depth of 400 feet and

ridge height over 70 feet, you feel small

when you’re inside the building.”

Hill said one of the hot-button design

elements came to be known as the ‘wrap

around’ effect, with the STEM charter school

and training center spaces essentially

designed to wrap around the indoor fields,

referred to as the ‘Big Box’. And while visiting

other facilities was helpful, there wasn’t

anything that frankly even came close to

Hansen’s ambitious desires.

“The fact is that there aren’t many

facilities that offer all of what has become

a reality,” said Hill. “So while there are

training facilities for teams, there just

aren’t many that combine all of the many

components that have been integrated

into this campus. Dell Loy was very hands-

on throughout the entire design process,

guiding and shaping the outcome to match

his visions.”

To say the project was ambitious

would be an understatement, considering

ground wasn’t officially broken until

August 2016, but that’s how Hansen

operates.

“When I think back to when it was a

47-acre sagebrush field, and when I look

at what we have all collectively done the

past 18 months, it’s mind-blowing,” said

Craig Martin, General Manager and VP of

Stadium Operations. “There is nothing like

it in American soccer.”

Martin, who hails from Boston and

grew up playing hockey and lacrosse – “I’m

not a soccer guy”, he admits – gushes when

talking about Hansen, and his unmatched

commitment to doing everything first-

class when it comes to his soccer-related

interests and other developments.

“I used to work for a municipality,

where you’re hamstrung by bureaucracy,”

said Martin. “After working for (Dell Loy),

I’ll never work for another person – he’s

just phenomenal. He’s difficult to work for,

but in the same sense that it’s difficult, it’s

rewarding to work for that guy. With Dell

Loy, if it makes sense, he’ll build it.”

In addition to the $75 million Real

Academy project, Hansen has invested

nearly $30 million in capital improvements

associated with his soccer clubs – three pro

teams (Real Salt Lake, Utah Royals FC, Real

Monarchs) and three amateur teams (U-15,

U-17, U-19). The investments include the

Audi Club, the Pavillion, the Carnival, a new

RSL sign, a $6 million solar panel system, >>

and a $2 million Wi-Fi system installed in

Rio Tinto this year.

“When Craig wakes up and says he’s

not exhausted from everything I’ve thrown

at him, we’ll do more,” said Hansen.

Hansen also praised the design

team and the many contributions of

EDA Architects. “Tonya (Schneider) was

instrumental in the process – she helped

me design the (famous Netherlands painter

Piet) Mondrian art project on the building.”

Forward Thinker, Mover and Shaker

A Utah native, Hansen’s family settled

down in Cache Valley when he was in junior

high and considers it home. In 1974 at the

age of 23 he started Continental Growth,

a homebuilding company, in Logan, >>

When I think back to when it was a 47-acre sagebrush field, and when I look at what we have all collectively done the past 18 months, it’s mind-blowing. There is nothing like it in American soccer.

– Craig Martin, General Manager and VP of Stadium Operations, Real Salt Lake

“

”

Zions Bank Real Academy

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The outdoor stadium is home to the Real Monarchs club and has a capacity of 5,000 seats.


building 800 homes in his first five years

in business. He then owned and operated

All-American Homes from 1981-88, before

the savings and loan crash of ’88 prompted

him to switch gears professionally from

a homebuilder to a property manager,

founding Wasatch Property Management

that year with the initial purchase of three

Salt Lake apartment buildings.

Hansen got back into the construction

world in 2004 when he founded Wasatch

Commercial Builders (WCB), the general

contractor on RSL Academy and a firm

that has been prodigiously building

multi-family and commercial office

projects in its 14-year history. WCB is led

by Scott Overman, President/CEO, who

said the team visited similar academies in

Barcelona, Spain, and other MLS-owned

facilities in the states to get some ideas of

what they wanted. Besides the assembly

of the indoor soccer facility, Overman

said initial earthwork and infrastructure

work was equally critical in making

the project fit a narrow timetable and

condensed schedule. He said it was the

largest building Nucor Steel has designed/

fabricated, and the largest system

Advanced Steel has erected, which added

to its complexity.

“The biggest challenge was being able

to assist the engineers and design team,

and the steel fabricators...and figuring

out the dimensions of the 400 ft. long

trusses and how to erect those,” he said.

“It’s not like a regular welded-in place steel

building – all parts and pieces are already

cut. You’re challenged in making sure

everything is spot on.”

Hansen said he didn’t go into the project

initially thinking it would be the largest

free-span structural steel system in North

America – that’s just how is worked out.

“We wanted a building that was iconic,

that was unique,” he said. “A couple of my

partners had this strange idea…that we

wanted two soccer fields with no posts

in the middle. They were so sold on the

idea…it’s an engineering marvel that Nucor

helped us put together. We changed the

engineering two or three times, from

a floating building that expanded and

contracted to one that literally took the

footings 10 ft. deep, 22 ft. wide, with six

levels of No. 8 rebar. It was like we built

the Great Wall of China underground

to support the building and not allow

it push out when you fully loaded the

weight on the roof. It’s one that took more

weight than anything I’ve ever put on any

(building), just to make sure it didn’t move.

“We wanted it to be overwhelming

when you walk in and look at it…to where

you feel the awe of what we were trying to

accomplish.”

“It’s much more difficult than just

building a stadium – I could build two Rio

Tinto stadiums and it would have been

more simple, especially in the time frame

we built it in,” said Overman. “Initial plans

were delayed and Dell Loy was adding >>


The sprawling campus includes Real Academy High School (a STEM charter school), and includes a unique, colorful, cube-like design inspired by Netherlands artist Piet Mondrian. (rendering courtesy EDA)


things to enhance the whole element for

his professional athletes. It had never

been built before so it was a challenge to

keep up with the engineers and the design

team and keep up with a demanding

construction schedule.”

Overman said this project is something

of a ‘legacy’ project for Hansen, even

though he has many more projects in the

works, including Fairbourne Station in West

Valley City, a joint-venture with West Valley

City and Utah Transit Authority on a seven-

story parking structure and nine-story

office tower that is underway next to Valley

Fair Mall. In the past 10 years WCB has built

6,000+ multi-family housing units ($800+

million) and more than $300 million in new

commercial office buildings.

“We’ve had people visit it, including

two European teams and several MLS

teams – anyone who comes out can’t help

but be impressed to the magnitude >>

We wanted it to be overwhelming when you walk in and look at it…to where you feel the awe of what we were trying to accomplish.

– Dell Loy Hansen

“

”


The academy is the full-time home to 50 student-athletes, designed to bring youth into the program at age 7 and advance them through various stages. Hansen’s vision is to have the most comprehensive soccer academy in the United States, and he has set the bar incredibly high with this legacy-type project.

44 | UTAH CONSTRUCTION & DESIGN | May 18

and attention to detail,” said Overman. “It’s a

phenomenal thing to have on our resume. Dell

Loy spared no expense. This isn’t something

that pencils to a return on investment – this is

a legacy project…it’s second to none.”

Sustainability was a key aspect of the

project. Solar array systems were installed

on the roof of the indoor training center

and Zions Bank Stadium, a 56,800 SF array

that produces 957 kW, powering 80% of

the facility, while the stadium will run off a

9,800 SF, 166-kW array.

Hill said in the end, it’s a project that

will have a tremendous impact on the local

community and the entire sport of soccer

in the Beehive State.

“Dell Loy has a strong drive for

developing and creating – it is a challenge

to keep up at times,” Hill said. “This project

is very personal for him and so it went

through several iterations, but always had

the same essence. And at the heart of it

are the kids. Creating the school and the

Academy and providing opportunities for

young people was important. I know for

me, any opportunity to work on a project

that benefits the community – especially

the youth –brings a level of satisfaction

that is difficult to match with other

project types.” n

Zions Bank Real AcademyLocation: Herriman, Utah

Cost: $75 million

Start/Completion Date:

May 2016/March 2018

Owner: Dell Loy Hansen

Architect: EDA Architects

General Contractor:

Wasatch Commercial Builders

Civil: Infinity Consultants

Electrical: Hunt Electric

Mechanical:

Colving Engineering Associates

Structural: ARW Engineers;

Nucor Corp.

Landscape: STB Design

Key Subcontractors: Sunroc Corp.,

Anchor Retaining Wall Systems,

Frontline Concrete, Harris Rebar,

Nucor Steel, Mountain Crane,

Advanced Steel Systems, Hunt Electric,

Shamrock Plumbing, Precision Heating

and Air, Wallboard Specialties,

KJ Tile, PPC, B&B Specialties.

Hansen said he’s been keeping Craig Martin, Real GM and VP of Stadium Operations, hopping in recent years with nearly $30 million in capital improvement projects at Rio Tinto Stadium.

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