AUBURN – The most expensive single athletic facility project ever undertaken in the state of Alabama is starting to look more like a basketball arena and not just a construction site.
Thursday, Randy Byars, director of athletic facility planning, gave reporters a tour of the arena that is scheduled to be ready for use in July 2010.
The arena will seat some 9,600 fans, all close to the court. There will be a state-of-the-art scoreboard hanging at midcourt. The graphics, the design and amenities, Byars said, will set the as-yet unnamed arena apart.
“You will walk in and go ‘Wow!’ “ Byars said. “You walk into some facilities in the SEC and you might go ‘Wow’ because they are huge. They are just big arenas. This one will be ‘wow’ because of what we’ve done to make it unique.”
The original budget for the arena was $92 million. It will come in substantially under budget, Byars said, at almost $86 million. The savings allowed some things to be added that would otherwise have been put off until later.
Construction has begun on practice facilities that are part of the project.
Seats are scheduled to be installed in November and the playing court in December. Students will occupy 1,500 seats at courtside on three sides of the arena. Non-student seats will be cushioned with chair backs. They’ll be blue on the lower level, orange on the middle level and blue on the upper level.
Men’s and women’s rooms and coaches offices will be state-of-the art with amenities, Byars said, that are found few other places.
Byars said $450,000 was set aside for graphics. There will be large graphics depicting the histories of Alumni Gym, The Sports Arena and Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum, the three venues in which Auburn basketball has competed.
On the outside west wall, the Auburn Creed is inscribed.
The Lovelace Museum and Hall of Honor, formerly at the football complex, will be reborn at the new arena.
“It’ll be open,” Byars said. “You’ll be able to get into it from different areas. You can go from out of your seat, from the general public entrance. When you come in the main entrance, you’ll see it right there.”
The arena sits next to the University Village complex, which is scheduled to open this fall. Holders of the 12 luxury suites will have a view of Jordan-Hare Stadium and Plainsman Park and will be able to use those suites for football games.
The scheduled completion date is July 14, 2010. Byars said he expects it to be finished earlier. The Auburn men’s and women’s basketball teams will vacate Beard-Eaves after the coming season is over.
