Sports

Hofheinz renovation possibilities presented to Board of Regents

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Hofheinz Pavilion originally opened in December of 1969, and the athletic department is looking to add it to the list of renovations. | File photo/The Cougar

Information about a feasibility study for the renovation of Hofheinz Pavilion was presented on Thursday to the UH Board of Regents.

In the meeting, Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek and Associate Athletic Director T.J. Meagher presented multiple options for the potential renovations, laid out in two phases.

The presentation stems from a feasibility report that was originally completed in 2010, along with the report for Robertson Stadium.

The Hofheinz plan was revisited in December of 2014, with the help of JMI Sports, and was completed in mid-April, according to Yurachek.

The first stage of the renovation, which is currently underway, is addressing the exterior of Hofheinz, with the basketball development facility, currently under construction and slated for completion by October, according to the presentation.

The first phase of the renovation process currently has a projected final price of $25 million, according to the presentation.

Phase two consists of two steps, with the first being an interior base renovation, which would consist of updating the building to fit to current building and fire codes, removal of hazardous building materials, as well as maintenance on major building systems.

This step of the process has a projected cost of $29.1 million, bringing the compound price up to $49.1 million.

In addition to the base renovation, two potential options were presented to modernize the interior and exterior of Hofheinz.

The first option would feature modernizing the concourse area, updating the video board and sound systems, creating new premium seating areas and updates to the event level of the arena, such as converting racquetball courts to offices and team space for the volleyball team.

With this proposal, Hofheinz would tally 7,855 seats, which includes 1,950 premium seats, with a $21 million price-tag in addition to the base phase-two constructions.

One of the biggest features of this option would be maintaining the current bowl-shape of the arena between the floor-space and the fan seating.

In the second option, the current bowl-shape would be reconfigured to the more widely-used NBA-style rectangular shape.

This would include raising the court three inches to provide a better view, as well as providing seats closer to the court for fans.

Additionally, option two would allot 2,048 seats for premium seating, feature 7.420 total seats, and expand the concourse spaces, utilizing the space absorbed by removing the bowl-shape.

Option two would add an additional $9.4 million to the base price plus the option 1 price, bringing the price-tag for phase two up to $59.5 million.

A third option was presented in the report, which would be a total reconstruction as a multi-event center.

Due to the $85.3 million price, which would include only the roof instillation in addition the base price and option one and two prices combined, option three is the least likely option to be pursued, according to the report.

At the end of the presentation, Meagher inferred that first-year revenue would be around $2.52 million, assuming 75% of available tickets were sold.

That number is reached by accounting for premium seat tickets, season tickets, and donations.

The University took in just $350,000 in the 2014-2015 season, excluding single-game tickets sold, according to the presentation.

Meagher said that a tentative time-table would be 9 months to a year for design and eighteen months for construction, and the athletic department would return to the next Board of Regents meeting looking for approval of a financial plan to pursue the design process.

 

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