Health District (Miami)
The Health District known as the Civic Center, is a neighborhood in the city of Miami, Florida United States. The Health District is bound by Northwest 20th Street and 14th Avenue to the northwest, the Dolphin Expressway and the Miami River to the south and west, the Midtown Interchange and I-95 to the east; the Health District has the country's largest concentration of medical and research facilities after Houston. The neighborhood is composed of hospitals, research institutes and government offices, is the center of Miami's growing biotechnology and medical research industry, it is the home of the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine and the UM Life Science and Technology Park; the Health District is five minutes north of Downtown Miami via rapid transit on the Miami Metrorail. The neighborhood has its roots as a health district with the opening of Jackson Memorial Hospital in 1915, with some of the original buildings, such as "The Alamo" still standing. Today, the Alamo serves an era museum of Jackson's history throughout the years.
Jackson Memorial Hospital is the major public hospital of Miami, Jackson's hospital in the Health District is the health system's primary hospital. The Health District is the center of Miami's medical and biotechnology industries, as such is home to many of the city's largest hospital systems; the largest is the public hospital, Jackson Memorial Hospital, which has two branch hospitals in northern and southern Miami-Dade County. Jackson has affiliations as teaching hospitals with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine since 1952 and more with Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. Other hospitals include: Miami VA Medical Center, University of Miami Hospital, Holtz Children's Hospital; some of the research institutes in the Health District are: Bascom Palmer Eye Institute UM Cytogenetic Lab University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine Miami Dade College Medical Campus Batchelor Children's Research Institute Braman Family Breast Cancer Institute Center on Aging Diabetes Research Institute Dr John T MacDonald Foundation Department of Human Genetics Florida International University Wertheim College of Medicine Gordon Center for Research in Medical Education UM Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute Mailman Center for Child Development Miami Institute for Human Genomics Miami Project to Cure Paralysis Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center Vascular Biology Institute William Lehman Injury Research Institute Civic Center is served by Metrobus throughout the area, by the Miami Metrorail at: Civic Center station Santa Clara station The Health District is served by Civic Center station, a station of the Metrorail rapid transit system.
It connects directly to all the major hospitals and research centers, connects the district to Downtown Miami and Hialeah, as well as to Miami's commuter rail system, Tri-Rail. In March 2012, the new Miami Trolley system inaugurated its first route which passes through Civic Center on its way to Marlins Park. University of Miami – Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, founded in 1952 Miami Dade College – Medical Center Campus, opened in 1977 Florida International University – Wertheim College of Medicine, opened in 2006
Marin County Civic Center
The Marin County Civic Center, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is located in San Rafael, United States. Groundbreaking for the Civic Center Administration Building took place in 1960, after Wright's death and under the watch of Wright's protégé, Aaron Green; the Hall of Justice was begun in 1966 and completed in 1969. Veterans Memorial Auditorium opened in 1971, the Exhibit Hall opened in 1976. Located away from the former county seat in downtown San Rafael, the expansive complex stretches across two valleys just east of US 101, its pink stucco walls, blue roof and scalloped balconies are distinctive. The smaller wing is the county administration building and the larger the Hall of Justice, joined by a round structure on a small hill that houses a county library. A battle between factions of the Marin County Board of Supervisors played out through the selection of the site and the architect, the financing of the project, its eventual completion; the Marin County Civic Center is National Historic Landmark.
The main Civic Center building has been nominated for the UNESCO World Heritage List as a part of ten properties by Frank Lloyd Wright. The nearby fairgrounds host the Marin Sonoma Concours d’Elegance each spring; the selection of Frank Lloyd Wright in 1957 to design the Civic Center was controversial. The Civic Center project was Wright's largest public project, encompassed an entire campus of civic structures; the post office was the only federal government project of Wright's career. Wright's design borrowed ideas and forms from Wright's Broadacre City concept, first published in 1932; the principal structure consists of a four-story, 580-foot long Administration Building and a three-story, 880-foot long Hall of Justice at a lower elevation, joined at a 120-degree angle with an 80-foot diameter rotunda. The Hall of Justice spans a small valley, arching twice over an access road and a parking area, while the Administration Building spans a smaller ravine. Both structures are entered through archways on their lower levels.
The long principal facades are marked by shallow non-structural arches of decreasing span with each story. The arches, which are framed in metal with a stucco appliqué, overlap at the lower level. On the intermediate level, they appear to stand on short slender gold-anodized columns, on the top level, they become round openings with gold railings directly under the deep roof overhang; the railings themselves have a circular pattern. The bright blue roof is itself patterned with arched cut-outs and raised circular patterns The building wings are arranged as a barrel vault shape on either side of the central galley, asymmetrically disposed. Interior guardrails at the atrium are solid stucco with no metal elements. Entrances are controlled by vertical grills of gold-anodized metal with rounded tops and bottoms, rather than doors; the eaves are embellished with an arched fascia with small gold balls inset in each arch, a pattern repeated in the atria. The rotunda on the central hill houses a central cafeteria.
Its 172-foot gold spire was meant to house a radio transmitter, as well as the boiler plant's chimney. The interiors are arranged around open atria or "malls" as Wright called them, which allow natural light into the space. Open to the sky, the malls were covered with skylights designed by William Wesley Peters. Interior spaces featured glass walls to allow light to penetrate from the exterior and the atrium, to follow through on Wright's philosophy of maximum openness of government activities. Wright's concept envisioned a gold-colored roof, which proved to be impossible to obtain in a long-lasting material. After Wright's death, Olgivanna Wright chose a bright blue color that would weather well, gaining a softer color with age; the color choice, together with the pink stucco walls, was controversial, causing the building to become known as "Big Pink". The only large gold element is the spire at the rotunda; the Post Office building is a one-story elliptical building near the entrance to the complex.
Its facade repeats the arch motif, with circular embellishments on its canopy. The interior features an elliptical lobby; the nearby Veterans Auditorium was designed by the Taliesin Associated Architects and was completed in 1971 in a manner compatible with the main complex. The auditorium was designed for use by the county fair with a combination of flat-floor exhibition space and tiered seating spaces, using a compromise plan devised by Wesley Peters, George Izenour, Aaron Green; the main hall seats 1960 in an amphitheater arrangement. A separate Showcase Theater seats 300, the exhibition hall can accommodate up to 2000 patrons; the original Hall of Justice design incorporated the Marin County Jail. As the jail outgrew its space a number of proposals were advanced for a new facility adjoining the Civic Center. A new underground jail was completed in 1994 in the hilltop to the west of the Hall of Justice, designed by AECOM with 222 cells and 363 beds; the jail connects to the Hall of Justice by an underground link.
The design concept was suggested by Aaron Green. The final design was reached after unsuitable underground and above-ground designs were rejected in the 1980s. Natural lighting of interior spaces is provided by skylit light wells over the common space of each of six pods. A Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit train station was constructed nearby which bears the same name; the Marin Civic center arose from a desire to consolidate county services at a single location, away from the center of San Rafael. The idea was combined with a proposed county fairground, 140 acres of the Scettrini ranch were purchased in
Commercial area
Commercial areas in a city are areas, districts, or neighbourhoods composed of commercial buildings, such as a downtown, central business district, financial district, "Main Street", commercial strip, or shopping centre. Commercial activity within cities includes the buying and selling of goods and services in retail businesses, wholesale buying and selling, financial establishments, a wide variety of uses that are broadly classified as "business." While commercial activities take up a small amount of land, they are important to a community’s economy. They provide employment, facilitate the circulation of money, serve many other roles important to the community, such as public gathering and cultural events. A commercial area is real estate intended for use by for-profit businesses, such as office complexes, shopping malls, service stations and restaurants, it may be purchased outright by a developer for future projects or leased through a real estate broker. This type of property falls somewhere between industrial property.
Every incomer must grant permission to build a new office complex or other profit-making business, the city government must determine that the chosen area is indeed commercial area. The zones which separate commercial and residential area are markeoned for commercial use the city will allow the sale to proceed for the stated use. If any part of the property extends into a residential or industrial zone, however the buyer must seek a'variance', special permission to cross over a zone boundary. A commercial area can be held by real estate agents. Signs advertising the availability and size of the real estate can be erected, arrangements can be made to buy or lease smaller lots. Sellers may agree to make improvements to the land, such as grading off uneven spots or clearing out unwanted trees. A professional developer may purchase huge swatches of this type of property to guarantee its availability for projects. Cities use zoning laws to prevent conflicts between residential homeowners and businesses.
Land designated as a commercial area is located in the middle of residential zones. City planners encourage businesses to congregate along central downtown areas; this helps to keep traffic to these sites manageable. Some areas of the city may be designated for'mixed usage', which means some commercial areas may be used for residential purposes. A quaint downtown shopping area with apartments would be an example of mixed usage. Commercial areas definition may include industrial usage as well, although zoning laws still regulate the level of industry permitted. Heavier industries purchase property on the fringes of cities or in unincorporated areas; some commercial zones in the city do allow for light industrial usage smaller factories with minimal emissions and transportation needs. Some examples of commercial area buildings are: The Neighborhood Commercial 1 zone is intended for small sites in or near dense residential neighborhoods; the zone encourages the provision of small-scale retail and service uses for nearby residential areas.
Some uses which are not retail or service in nature are allowed so a variety of uses may locate in existing buildings. Uses are restricted in size to promote a local orientation and to limit adverse impacts on nearby residential areas. Development is intended to be pedestrian-oriented and compatible with the scale of surrounding residential areas. Parking areas are restricted, since their appearance is out of character with the surrounding residential development and the desired orientation of the uses; the Neighborhood Commercial 2 zone is intended for small commercial sites and areas in or near less dense or developing residential neighborhoods. The emphasis of the zone is on uses which will provide services for the nearby residential areas, on other uses which are small-scale and have little impact. Uses are limited in intensity to promote their local orientation and to limit adverse impacts on nearby residential areas. Development is expected to be predominantly auto accommodating, except where the site is adjacent to a transit street or in a Pedestrian District.
The development standards reflect that the site will be surrounded by more spread out residential development. The Office Commercial 1 zone is used on small sites in or near residential areas or between residential and commercial areas; the zone is intended to be a low intensity office zone that allows for small-scale offices in or adjacent to residential neighborhoods. The allowed uses are intended to serve nearby neighborhoods and/or have few detrimental impacts on the neighborhood. Development is intended to be of a scale and character similar to nearby residential development to promote compatibility with the surrounding area. Development should be oriented in Pedestrian Districts. Leasing commercial office space is one of the largest expenses incurred by new and expanding businesses, so it is important to do your due diligence. Here are some tips for negotiating a commercial lease for your small business. Lease term and rent are your first negotiation points, it is recommended that small businesses negotiate one- to two-year leases with the option to renew.
You will want to factor in rent increases over the term and renewal options so you are not charged with an unexpected rent increase without warning. Consider working with a broker to help you negotiate with the landlord, it is important to consult a knowledgeable real estate lawyer.
National Mall
The National Mall is a landscaped park within the National Mall and Memorial Parks, an official unit of the United States National Park System. It is located near the downtown area of Washington, D. C. the capital city of the United States, is administered by the National Park Service of the United States Department of the Interior. The term National Mall includes areas that are officially part of neighboring West Potomac Park and Constitution Gardens to the southwest; the term is taken to refer to the entire area between the Lincoln Memorial on the west and east to the United States Capitol grounds, with the Washington Monument dividing the area west of its midpoint. A smaller designation sometimes referred to as the National Mall excludes both the Capitol grounds and the Washington Monument grounds, applying only to an area between them; the National Mall contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institution, art galleries, cultural institutions, various memorials and statues.
The park receives 24 million visitors each year. In his 1791 plan for the future city of Washington, D. C. Pierre Charles L'Enfant envisioned a garden-lined "grand avenue" 1 mile in length and 400 feet wide, in an area that would lie between the Congress House and an equestrian statue of George Washington; the statue would be placed directly south of the President's House. The National Mall occupies the site of this planned "grand avenue", never constructed. Mathew Carey's 1802 map is reported to be the first to name the area west of the United States Capitol as the "Mall"; the Washington City Canal, completed in 1815 in accordance with the L'Enfant Plan, travelled along the former course of Tiber Creek to the Potomac River along the present line of Constitution Avenue, NW and south around the base of a hill containing the Congress House, thus defining the northern and eastern boundaries of the Mall. Being shallow and obstructed by silt, the canal served only a limited role and became an open sewer that poured sediment and waste into the Potomac River's flats and shipping channel.
The portion of the canal that traveled near the Mall was covered over in 1871 for sanitary reasons. Some consider a lockkeeper's house constructed in 1837 near the western end of the Washington City Canal for an eastward extension of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal to be the oldest building still standing on the National Mall; the structure, located near the southwestern corner of 17th Street, NW and Constitution Avenue, NW is west of the National Mall. The Smithsonian Institution Building, constructed from 1847 to 1855, is the oldest building now present on the National Mall; the Washington Monument, whose construction began in 1848, stands near the planned site of its namesake's equestrian statue. During the early 1850s, architect and horticulturist Andrew Jackson Downing designed a landscape plan for the Mall. Over the next half century, federal agencies developed several naturalistic parks within the Mall in accordance with Downing's plan. Two such areas were Seaton Park. During that period, the Mall was subdivided into several areas along B Street NW: The Monument Grounds between 17th and 14th Street NW The Agricultural Grounds between 14th and 12th Street NW The Smithsonian Grounds between 12th and 7th Street NW The Armory Square between 7th and 6th Street NW The Public Grounds between 6th and 2nd Street NW In 1856, the Armory was built at the intersection of B Street SW and 6th Street SW on the Armory Grounds.
In 1862, during the American Civil War, the building was converted to a military hospital known as Armory Square Hospital to house Union Army casualties. After the war ended, the Armory building became the home of the United States Fish Commission; the United States Congress established the United States Department of Agriculture in 1862 during the Civil War. Designed by Adolf Cluss and Joseph von Kammerhueber, the United States Department of Agriculture Building, was constructed in 1867–1868 on a 35-acre site on the Mall. After the war ended, the Department started growing experimental crops and demonstration gardens on the Mall; these gardens extended from the Department's building on the south side of the Mall to B Street NW. The building was razed in 1930. In addition, greenhouses belonging to the U. S. Botanical Garden appeared near the east end of the Mall between the Washington City Canal and the Capitol. Originating during the early 1800s as a collection of market stalls north of the Washington City Canal and the Mall, the Center Market, which Adolf Cluss designed, opened in 1872 soon after the canal closed.
Located on the north side of Constitution Avenue NW, the National Archives now occupies the Market's site. During that period, railroad tracks crossed the Mall on 6th Street, west of the Capitol. Near the tracks, several structures were built over the years; the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station rose in 1873 on the north side of the Mall at the southwest corner of 6th Street and B Street NW. In 1887, the Army Medical Museum and Library, which Adolph Class designed in 1885, opened on the Mall at northwest corner of B Street SW and 7th Street SW; the Smithsonian Institution's Hirshhorn Museum now occupies the site of the building, demolished in 1968. Meanwhile, in order to clean up the Potomac Flats and
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. According to radiometric dating and other sources of evidence, Earth formed over 4.5 billion years ago. Earth's gravity interacts with other objects in space the Sun and the Moon, Earth's only natural satellite. Earth revolves around the Sun in a period known as an Earth year. During this time, Earth rotates about its axis about 366.26 times. Earth's axis of rotation is tilted with respect to its orbital plane; the gravitational interaction between Earth and the Moon causes ocean tides, stabilizes Earth's orientation on its axis, slows its rotation. Earth is the largest of the four terrestrial planets. Earth's lithosphere is divided into several rigid tectonic plates that migrate across the surface over periods of many millions of years. About 71% of Earth's surface is covered with water by oceans; the remaining 29% is land consisting of continents and islands that together have many lakes and other sources of water that contribute to the hydrosphere.
The majority of Earth's polar regions are covered in ice, including the Antarctic ice sheet and the sea ice of the Arctic ice pack. Earth's interior remains active with a solid iron inner core, a liquid outer core that generates the Earth's magnetic field, a convecting mantle that drives plate tectonics. Within the first billion years of Earth's history, life appeared in the oceans and began to affect the Earth's atmosphere and surface, leading to the proliferation of aerobic and anaerobic organisms; some geological evidence indicates. Since the combination of Earth's distance from the Sun, physical properties, geological history have allowed life to evolve and thrive. In the history of the Earth, biodiversity has gone through long periods of expansion punctuated by mass extinction events. Over 99% of all species that lived on Earth are extinct. Estimates of the number of species on Earth today vary widely. Over 7.6 billion humans live on Earth and depend on its biosphere and natural resources for their survival.
Humans have developed diverse cultures. The modern English word Earth developed from a wide variety of Middle English forms, which derived from an Old English noun most spelled eorðe, it has cognates in every Germanic language, their proto-Germanic root has been reconstructed as *erþō. In its earliest appearances, eorðe was being used to translate the many senses of Latin terra and Greek γῆ: the ground, its soil, dry land, the human world, the surface of the world, the globe itself; as with Terra and Gaia, Earth was a personified goddess in Germanic paganism: the Angles were listed by Tacitus as among the devotees of Nerthus, Norse mythology included Jörð, a giantess given as the mother of Thor. Earth was written in lowercase, from early Middle English, its definite sense as "the globe" was expressed as the earth. By Early Modern English, many nouns were capitalized, the earth became the Earth when referenced along with other heavenly bodies. More the name is sometimes given as Earth, by analogy with the names of the other planets.
House styles now vary: Oxford spelling recognizes the lowercase form as the most common, with the capitalized form an acceptable variant. Another convention capitalizes "Earth" when appearing as a name but writes it in lowercase when preceded by the, it always appears in lowercase in colloquial expressions such as "what on earth are you doing?" The oldest material found in the Solar System is dated to 4.5672±0.0006 billion years ago. By 4.54±0.04 Bya the primordial Earth had formed. The bodies in the Solar System evolved with the Sun. In theory, a solar nebula partitions a volume out of a molecular cloud by gravitational collapse, which begins to spin and flatten into a circumstellar disk, the planets grow out of that disk with the Sun. A nebula contains gas, ice grains, dust. According to nebular theory, planetesimals formed by accretion, with the primordial Earth taking 10–20 million years to form. A subject of research is the formation of some 4.53 Bya. A leading hypothesis is that it was formed by accretion from material loosed from Earth after a Mars-sized object, named Theia, hit Earth.
In this view, the mass of Theia was 10 percent of Earth, it hit Earth with a glancing blow and some of its mass merged with Earth. Between 4.1 and 3.8 Bya, numerous asteroid impacts during the Late Heavy Bombardment caused significant changes to the greater surface environment of the Moon and, by inference, to that of Earth. Earth's atmosphere and oceans were formed by volcanic outgassing. Water vapor from these sources condensed into the oceans, augmented by water and ice from asteroids and comets. In this model, atmospheric "greenhouse gases" kept the oceans from freezing when the newly forming Sun had only 70% of its current luminosity. By 3.5 Bya, Earth's magnetic field was established, which helped prevent the atmosphere from being stripped away by the solar wind. A crust formed; the two models that explain land mass propose either a steady growth to the present-day forms or, more a rapid growth early in Earth history followed by a long-term steady continental area. Continents formed by plate tectonics
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and business center of a city. In larger cities, it is synonymous with the city's "financial district". Geographically, it coincides with the "city centre" or "downtown", but the two concepts are separate: many cities have a central business district located away from its commercial or cultural city centre or downtown; the CBD is also the "city centre" or "downtown", but this is often not the case. Midtown Manhattan is the largest central business district in the world. For example, London's "city centre" is regarded as encompassing the historic City of London and the mediaeval City of Westminster, whereas the City of London and the transformed Docklands area are regarded as its two CBDs. Mexico City has a historic city centre, the colonial-era Centro Histórico, along with two CBDs: the mid-late 20th century Paseo de la Reforma - Polanco, the new Santa Fe; the shape and type of a CBD always reflect the city's history. Cities with strong preservation laws and maximum building height restrictions to retain the character of the historic and cultural core will have a CBD quite a distance from the centre of the city.
This is quite common for European cities such as Vienna. In cities in the New World that grew after the invention of mechanised modes such as road or rail transport, a single central area or downtown will contain most of the region's tallest buildings and act both as the CBD and the commercial and cultural city center. Increasing urbanisation in the 21st century have developed megacities in Asia, that will have multiple CBDs scattered across the urban area, it has been said. No two CBDs look alike in terms of their spatial shape, however certain geometric patterns in these areas are recurring throughout many cities due to the nature of centralised commercial and industrial activities. In Australia the acronym CBD is used commonly to refer to major city "centres", it is used in particular to refer to the skyscraper districts in state capital cities such as Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. Melbourne is Australia's largest CBD with Sydney second and Brisbane third when judged by area size; the iTowers of Masa Square CBD were built for doing business tasks only.
It is located within Gaborone. In China terms "city centre" are used but a different commercial district outside of the historic core called a "CBD" or "Financial District" may exist. Large Chinese cities have multiple CBDs spread throughout the urban area. Cities traditionally being major cultural centres with many historic structures in the core such as Beijing, Suzhou or Xi'an will have the greenfield CBDs built adjacent to the urban core, similar to European cities. While other cities such as Guangzhou, Shanghai and Wuhan the city centre will house a number of CBDs in addition to greenfield CBDs built in the periphery. In France, the term « quartier d’affaires » may be used to describe the central business district; the main ones business districts in the country are as following: La Défense in Paris, which with 3,300,000 square metres of office space is Europe's leading business district in terms of area. La Part-Dieu in Lyon, is the 2nd largest business district in France and has nearly 1,600,000 square metres.
Euralille in Lille, is the 3rd business district of France with 1,120,000 square metres of offices. Euroméditerranée in Marseille, is the 4th business district in France with 650,000 square metres of offices. In Germany, the terms Innenstadt and Stadtzentrum may be used to describe the central business district. Both terms can be translated to mean "inner city" and "city centre"; some of the larger cities have more than one central business district, like Berlin, which has three. Due to Berlin's history of division during the Cold War, the city contains central business districts both in West and East Berlin, as well as a newly-built business centre near Potsdamer Platz; the city's historic centre — the location of the Reichstag building, as well as the Brandenburg gate and most federal ministries — was abandoned when the Berlin Wall cut through the area. Only after the reunification with the redevelopment of Potsdamer Platz, the construction of numerous shopping centers, government ministries, office buildings and entertainment venues, was the area revived.
In Frankfurt, there is a business district, in the geographical centre of the city and it is called the Bankenviertel. In Düsseldorf, there is a business district, located around the famous High-Street Königsallee with banks and offices. In Hong Kong, Sheung Wan and Causeway Bay are considered as the central business districts of Victoria City; the Yau Tsim Mong District has been considered the city centre of Kowloon before another core emerged in Cheung Sha Wan. As part of the Airport Core Programme, the Union Square project launched by the MTR Corporation has brought it another CBD in West Kowloon. With the latest implementation of "Energising Kowloon East" Scheme by the Hong Kong Government, Kowloon Bay and Kwun Tong Business Area have been redeveloped and transformed into CBDs; the CBDs of new towns and satellite cities such as Tuen Mun, Sha Tin and Tung Chung have been characterised by sky-scraping residential blocks on top of large shopping centres that provide services to local resi
XL Center
The XL Center is a multi-purpose arena and convention center located in downtown Hartford, Connecticut. It is operated by Spectra. In December 2007, the Center was renamed when the arena's naming rights were sold to XL Group insurance company in a 6-year agreement; the arena is ranked the 28th largest among college basketball arenas. Opened in 1974 as the Hartford Civic Center and located adjacent to Civic Center Mall, demolished in 2004, it consists of two facilities: the Exhibition Center. On March 21, 2007, the Capital Region Development Authority selected the Northland/Anschutz Entertainment Group proposal, it was revealed that Northland will assume total responsibility for the building paying for any and all losses, will keep any profits. In 2012, the CRDA, put the contract out to bid with hopes of combining the operations with Rentschler Field. In February 2013, Global Spectrum of Philadelphia, was chosen to take over both the XL Center and Rentschler Field with Ovations Food Services taking over all food and beverage operations.
The Civic Center is the full-time home of the Hartford Wolf Pack AHL hockey team and part-time home of the University of Connecticut men's and women's basketball teams and the Connecticut Huskies men's ice hockey team. Starting in the late 1990s, the UConn men moved most of their important games—including the bulk of their Big East Conference games—to the Coliseum. During the 2011–2012 season, for instance, they played 11 home games at the Coliseum and only eight at their on-campus facility, Gampel Pavilion; this practice continued when the Huskies joined the American Athletic Conference, successor to the original Big East, in 2013. The Uconn Men's Hockey team uses the XL Center as its primary home as the newest member of Hockey East, it was the home of the New England/Hartford Whalers of the WHA and NHL from 1975 to 1978 and 1980 to 1997, the Hartford Hellions of the MISL from 1980 to 1981, the New England Blizzard of the ABL from 1996 to 1998, hosted occasional Boston Celtics home games from 1975 to 1995.
It was the home of the Connecticut Coyotes and the New England Sea Wolves of the Arena Football League. The arena seats 15,635 for ice hockey and 16,294 for basketball, 16,606 for center-stage concerts, 16,282 for end-stage concerts, 8,239 for ¾-end stage concerts, contains 46 luxury suites and a 310-seat Coliseum Club, plus 25,000 square feet of arena floor space, enabling it to be used for trade shows and conventions in addition to concerts, ice shows, sporting events and other events; the graduation ceremonies of Central Connecticut State University and other local colleges are held annually at the XL Center. As built in 1975, it seated 10,507 for hockey, served as the home of the then–New England Whalers for three years. In the early morning of January 18, 1978, just hours after the University of Connecticut Men's Basketball team defeated the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the weight of snow from the day's heavy snowstorm on a faultily constructed roof caused the Civic Center's roof to collapse.
It was determined the reason for the collapse was the Civic Center being one of the first buildings designed on a computer which caused problems for the building crew during construction, such as the measurements of beams being so precise that the beams had to be modified and forced to fit together. There were no injuries due to the collapse; the building was renovated and re-opened January 17, 1980. The Arena hosted the Hartford Whalers from January 11, 1980 to April 13, 1997. Shortly thereafter the team relocated to Raleigh to become the Carolina Hurricanes. In 1994, new owner Peter Karmanos purchased the team and pledged to keep the Whalers in Connecticut until 1998, unless they could not sell over 11,000 season tickets. After failed negotiations to build a new downtown arena for the Whalers with then-Governor John G. Rowland, on March 25, 1997, Karmanos announced that the team would leave; the New York Rangers, looking to capitalize on Hartford as a potential market, placed its farm team there to become the Hartford Wolf Pack starting in 1997.
After a short stint as the Connecticut Whale, they reverted to the Wolf Pack moniker in 2013. Renovations were complete in October 2014, set to serve the arena until its fiftieth birthday. In September 2010, the arena was upgraded with a new center-hung scoreboard with four Sony Jumbotrons and a state-of-the-art sound system; the Connecticut State Legislature set aside $35 million in funding for improvements to the XL Center that began in early spring 2014 and completed in time for the start of the 2014-15 seasons of the Wolf Pack and UConn Men's Hockey in October. Improvements included upgrades to the mechanical system, locker rooms and concourse, replacing jumbotrons with a new high definition video board, as well as aesthetic improvements such as a new bar area inside the arena and luxury seating in the lower bowl. A portion of the $35 million allocation went towards a study on the arena's long-term viability; the XL Center has held many notable events including: The ECAC New England Region Tournament, a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I men's college basketball tournament organized by the Eastern College Athletic Conference, took place at the Hartford Civic Center on March 3 and 5, 1977.
The tournament champion received an automatic bid to the 1977 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. The 1982 Big East Conference and 1988–1990 America East Conference men's basketball tournaments were here, as well as occasional games of the UConn Huskies men's bas
