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 AU arena gets go-ahead: Huntsville Times
AU arena receives go-ahead
Search to begin for architect of $90 million project
Saturday, October 21, 2006
By PHILLIP MARSHALL
Times Sports Staff pmarsh9485@msn.com
AUBURN - Jay Jacobs, Auburn's athletic director, knew what he wanted from the start. Two weeks ago, he was convinced it was best for Auburn.
A new, free-standing arena, he decided, was the logical next step for Auburn's basketball program. Friday, the Property and Facilities Committee of the Board of Trustees agreed.
Auburn will move forward to construct a facility to replace aging Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum at an estimated cost of more than $90 million.
"That's exactly what I wanted to get to, but regardless, I wanted what was best for the Auburn athletic department," Jacobs said.
The committee, empowered by the entire Board of Trustees, voted unanimously to proceed with the first phase of the project and approved a search for an architectural firm to design a facility.
The goal is to choose an architect by early January and begin construction in 2007. Jacobs said he wants a firm that has experience in designing arenas.
Once there is a design and definitive price, it would be up to the Board to give final approval to begin construction.
Jacobs and John Mouton, special assistant to the president and former chair of the Auburn Department of Building Science, led an effort beginning last March to find the best way to upgrade Auburn's basketball facilities. Eventually, they narrowed their options to building a new, free-standing arena or a total transformation of Beard-Eaves.
Mouton said his research showed a free-standing arena would likely cost $92 million-$95.5 million. Transforming Beard-Eaves, he said, would cost $85 million-$93 million.
For Jacobs, the similarity in cost made the decision obvious. Interim president Ed Richardson agreed.
"When they showed me the difference between the two, I made the decision that the best thing for Auburn was to build a new arena," Jacobs said. "I'm committed to doing that."
The proposed arena would seat 8-9,000 and would include club level seating and luxury suites, Mouton said.
Trustee Bobby Lowder, chairman of the Board's finance committee, attended Friday's meeting and gave a ringing endorsement to the plan.
"I personally believe where we are with this arena is where we were 20 years ago with the football stadium," Lowder told his fellow trustees. "We had to make a big decision whether to enlarge the stadium and add suites. It wasn't a popular decision around campus. But I think, if you look back 20 years, it was a great decision. We were really the first to put in the kind of football stadium that everybody now has.
"This is something we've got to do. If we don't do it, we are writing off the basketball program. I think that would be a huge mistake.
"As chair of the finance committee, I would pledge our full resources from a finance standpoint to making this happen."
Richardson, Jacobs and Mouton spoke before the committee, chaired by Huntsville contractor John Blackwell, in favor of the plan.
"This is where I wanted to get to," Jacobs said after the meeting. "However, it takes time to get here. It is the financially the largest and most complicated facility we've ever built in athletics and is probably near the top on campus."
The construction would be financed partly by a bond issue and partly by private donations. Jacobs said a fundraising campaign specifically for the arena is in the planning stages. Richardson said progress has already been made.
"Looking at where we are now, we are clearly over halfway there," Richardson said. "To me, if you look at our athletic facilities, this is the last one. Everywhere I've gone, and from talking to our coaches, what they are saying is that our facilities are not conducive to having a winning program.
"Basketball is a program that can and should make money. We believe that, in the 90 (million) range, we can make it go."
The only potential roadblock, Jacobs said, would be if costs are wildly higher than projected.
"We don't expect that," Jacobs said.
Mouton said Beard-Eaves would remain in use in the short term, but that it would eventually need to be torn down.
"It has a finite life left," Mouton said.
"We're going to have to look at the other uses that are in there and start planning for a way to resolve those."
© 2006 The Huntsville Times© 2006 al.com All Rights Reserved.
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