A retractable roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium is "finally beginning to take shape after a long winter of delays," but workers "only have a few months to finish its underlying steel structure so the USTA can clean up the grounds in time" for the Aug. 31-Sept. 13 U.S. Open, according to Tom Perrotta of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The roof, which will cost about $150M in "privately funded money, won’t be operational" until the '16 tournament. To "speed things along," the USTA "brought in a third crane in February to make up for snow days and high winds." Detroit-based architecture firm Rossetti Architectural Lead Jonathan Disbrow said of the roof, "It’s essentially an umbrella. It’s completely independent of the existing stadium." Perrotta notes after this year’s Open is completed, construction crews "will return to install the retractable canopy, which will be made from a rigid, translucent fabric." USTA COO Daniel Zausner said that it "will take between five and seven minutes to open or close the top." The roof and other renovations, like Ashe’s four new scoreboards and LED lights for nighttime play, "have forced the USTA to upgrade the tennis center’s infrastructure." It is "building a new electrical substation and a chilling plant to send cool air into the stadium once the roof closes" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 5/7).
