FROM IDEA TO REALITY
Take a look at the photo galleries:
All generations of Opatija athletes finally welcomed the start of the sports hall construction on October 17th, 2011. The designer of the hall was the eminent architect, Borut Petanjek, from Coning d.d. Varaždin, who unfortunately passed away in early 2012. After his death, the architect Milka Šuput, from the same company took over the project.
It took a bit less than three years from the first conceptual solution, through the design and execution of the project, including the obtaining of the location and building permits, to the final completion and grand opening of the sports hall.
THE CONSTRUCTION
The contractors were Strabag d.o.o. - Zagreb and Zanatoprema - Rijeka. The head of the construction site was Milko Volarić from Strabag d.o.o. and supervision of construction was performed by Jurcon project d.o.o. from Zagreb, chief supervisor Franjo Carević and the project supervision was provided by Coning d.d., (later Connecto project d.o.o.) from Varaždin. On behalf of the investor, Opatija 21 d.o.o., the construction was supervised by the director Mladen Sinožić, the sport facilities supervisor Fernando Kirigin and Raul Degano, B.Sc.C.E., on behalf of the Town of Opatija. The construction was financed through long-term loan agreements, one through Zagrebačka bank and HBOR, for a total amount of 37 million HRK and another through the Erste & Steiermarkische bank (contracted at 33 million HRK and utilized in the amount of 22,5 million HRK). The contracted price of construction (without the interior design) added up to 43.7 million HRK, additional incurred costs outside the budget were 2.3 million HRK, while the value of the sports equipment, purchased separately, was somewhat above 1 million HRK.
MULTIFUNCTIONAL FACILITY
The Sports hall "Marino Cvetković" extends to 11,000 square meters, has a large sports ground with 1,217 seats along with movable stands on one side of the main sports ground. Below, there is a smaller hall that serves for recreation and sports such as badminton, karate and table tennis, a separate martial arts hall and a car park garage with 137 parking spaces and 7 places for the disabled. There are also five parking spaces available for buses. The sports hall now accommodates various sports events such as handball, basketball, volleyball, mini soccer, tennis, table tennis, gymnastics, badminton, boxing, wrestling, other martial arts and other similar sports, as well as cultural events, business exhibitions and a variety of entertaining events, concerts, exhibitions, fairs, conventions and congresses.
IN HONOR OF THE VETERANS
At the entrance to the hall there is a memorial plaque with photographs of Opatija’s veterans, who lost their lives during the Homeland War. Among them, apart from Marino Cvetković, after whom the hall was named, there are ten more defenders: Franko Lohajner, Mladen Gržanić, Jurica Ivko, Boris Štedul, Božidar Ostović, Ivo Kusturin, Boris Čudina, Marko Starčević, Jerko Barešić and Dean Prodan.
The construction of the hall was completed on June 10th, 2013 and the wellness, fitness, restaurant, cafe bar and martial arts facilities were finalised in December 2013.
