“The Phog” was full of fog -in the form of heavy dust particles – Thursday afternoon.

Fans with allergies need not worry, though.

Kansas University officials say (Phog) Allen Fieldhouse – a hard-hat construction zone the past several months – will be ready for healthy habitation five weeks from tonight when 16,300 fans are expected to pack the refurbished palace for the 2005 Late Night in the Phog hoops celebration.

“It’s a big project to get done between the end of last season and the start of the next season,” KU senior associate athletic director Larry Keating said.

“Some crews have been working more than 8 to 5, including nights and weekends. They are making great progress. We’ve still got five weeks to go before Late Night.”

Keating, who said the target date for most of the work to be completed was Oct. 1, updated the Journal-World on the building’s progress.

¢ A maple plywood-panel floor has been put down and is in the process of being sanded. The new floor, which Keating said had “a newer subsurface underneath to provide a springier cushion,” will be sanded, coated and painted in the next 10-12 days.

“You put down a coat, then sand it, seal it, paint it, design it (with big Jayhawk and Big 12 logos and lines) and then put two to three coats (of finish) over that,” Keating said.

¢ A videoboard, which has been hung from the center rafters, still needs a final bottom piece added as well as a cluster of speakers. Those will be in place by the end of September. A scoreboard control room is being constructed in the southwest corner of the fieldhouse.

Keating said the plan was that the videoboard would work for Late Night on Oct. 14.

¢ New auxiliary scoreboards will replace the old ones in the tunnels on floor level, while lighted advertising panels, like the new ones on the north end of Memorial Stadium, will hang over various portals in the upper deck.

¢ Most of the seats have been sanded, refinished and painted, with ones in the four corners still to be worked.

¢ More than a dozen new lighting fixtures have been raised in the rafters – two-thirds of that project still is to be finished.

¢ Windows are expected to arrive soon. Plastic is hanging over some window areas, also adding to excess dust in the building.

“With the new lighting, the floor and visual look of the scoreboards, I think the building itself is improved,” Keating said. “The great thing is we have not changed the original look of the place. You do not want to fool around with such a historic building.”

The Hall of Athletics won’t open this season. However, fans will be allowed entry through the front of the Hall to get into the fieldhouse.

“We must be able to pass people through there,” Keating said. “There will be access through the big double doors in the middle. We must get the opening done for the fire code (in time for Late Night).”

Details have yet to be released for Late Night. Tentative plans, Keating said, were for the doors to swing open at 5:30 p.m. Late Night likely will run from 7 to 9 p.m. KU’s men will be featured on ESPNU from 8 to 9.