Taylor Price – 49ers.com

Jed York couldn’t contain his excitement.

The 49ers CEO has been hard at work on the San Francisco 49ers stadium project for practically the duration of his time working for the club. So on a night before the latest, and perhaps most critical stage of the new Santa Clara Stadium project, York went to Twitter to share his enthusiasm with his followers.

“Putting up steel in the morning. Huge day for #SCStadium development,” York wrote.

Shortly after, York was one of the first on-hand to see the ceremonial first steel beam inserted into the ground at the stadium site.

In total, 14,000 pieces of steel will be erected in the coming months. And it’ll take an estimated 127,000 bolts to keep them secure.

“In the life of a project, this is a big deal,” 49ers Project Executive Jack Hill said on Monday. “This is the start of the steel construction. Crews up until this point have been preparing the underground, the foundation, and all of the utilities. Now, we’re starting the frame of the house.”

The stadium’s first steel beams will form the frame of the new stadium in Santa Clara.  The first beam, inserted early in the morning by a giant Liebherr crawler, marked another significant step for the future home of the 49ers.

Santa Clara Mayor Jamie Matthews was also on hand to witness the latest stage of a rapidly developing project.

“To have this actually happening is a dream come true,” Mayor Matthews said. “There are many important construction milestones for projects of this size. Adding steel is not only visually appealing but also represents both symbolic and real strengths of the project.  As the steel goes up, you will see the stadium take shape and grow.”

Thanks to SME Steel, the contractor managing the project, approximately 18,000 tons of steel in total will support the 1.85 million square foot future home of the 49ers. The steel, manufactured by American Steel and Metals, is 95 percent recyclable.

The 14,000 pieces of steel, the largest weighing 36,000 pounds, will be installed by four cranes on the site that were shipped from Austria. Each crane is able to lift 20,000 pounds or the equivalent of five cars. 

Hill estimates it will take four to six weeks of around the clock work to complete the steel framing with each crane lifting 50 pieces of steel each day.
 
“This is where it gets really exciting,” Hill said. “We’ve been working diligently for the last six months but now with the steel, you’ll actually start seeing the progress of the stadium on a daily basis.”
 
Keep track on the latest new Santa Clara Stadium construction by visiting our live-camera look-in.

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