The Board of Regents approved the start of a renovation of Hofheinz Pavilion on Thursday in its monthly meeting and announced an anonymous donation of $20 million that will help in the renovation costs.
The total project budget is set at $60 million.
“It’s a huge deal for our men’s and women’s basketball programs,” Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Hunter Yurachek said. “Now with the gorgeous practice facility we have (and the completed, renovated Hofheinz Pavilion)…three years from now, that’s another game changer, not only for our men’s and women’s basketball programs but for our entire University and our fans, the die-hard fan base that we have.”
Yurachek also laid out a projected time table for completion of the project after the Regents’ meeting.
“You’re looking at the spring of 2016, before we really start to design that building,” Yurachek said. “If everything goes as planned, at the conclusion of the 2016-2017 season, we’ll begin the renovation to Hofheinz Pavilion.”
Yurachek said the anonymous donor has re-naming rights over the facility.
“We do have an anonymous gift of $20 million to begin the renovation of that project,” Yurachek said. “We’re not sure how that name is going to unfold, but it will no longer be called Hofheinz Pavilion, so were referring to this project as our Basketball Arena Renovation Project.”
The plan for the renovation reduces the numbers of seats to 7,420 from 8,479 but the inside of the arena will change to resemble newer arenas which bring the seats closer to the court.
The plan also calls for the addition of more than 2,00 premium seats, broken down into club seats, loge boxes and a pair of suites, as well as 90 court-side seats.
Yurachek said the renovation to the arena would couple well with the Guy V. Lewis Basketball Center.
“In the last several months we’ve seen that the basketball development facility, the Guy V. Lewis Center, has just been the first game-changer for our basketball programs in the recruiting process,” Yurachek said. “The last piece of the puzzle for our basketball program is a renovated Hofheinz Pavilion. Not only for our basketball programs, but for our fans.”