[Stardust]

A committee appointed to re-imagine Rupp Arena and a new downtown arts and entertainment district voted unanimously Saturday to renovate Rupp, approving a design that would strip the arena's industrial siding and replace it with a glass and translucent covering.

When architectural consultant Gary Bates asked the planning committee its reaction to the design, chairwoman and former Lexington Mayor Pam Miller responded, "We're bowled over." Bates walked the committee through the master plan during a conference call Saturday morning.

The conceptual image for Rupp and the 46-acre downtown arts district is the work of SpaceGroup, an architectural and urban planning firm based in Oslo, Norway. Bates, a principal in the firm, was hired as master planner in March.
The 12-member planning committee that voted Saturday is one of three subcommittees of the 47-member Rupp Arena, Arts & Entertainment Task Force appointed by Lexington Mayor Jim Gray in March.

The planning committee did not address financing. Now that there is a design, the task force's finance committee is to come up with funding sources. Its report is expected sometime in January.

In addition to endorsing the renovation of Rupp, home of the University of Kentucky men's basketball team, the planning committee supported plans for replacing Lexington Center with a campus-like convention center of five buildings linked by a covered walkway, with a small park in the center.

The new civic center would be on the west side of Rupp in what is now the Cox Street parking lot. Town Branch, which now runs underground through the area, would be brought to the surface to flow through a green space surrounding the civic center. The Jefferson Street viaduct would be removed.
Within the arts and entertainment district would be underground parking, an amphitheater, retail stores on Main Street and High Street and arts and education facilities.

Renovating the 35-year old Rupp Arena instead of building a new arena made good financial sense for the city, Gray said Saturday.

The price tag for a reinvented Rupp and a new convention center is estimated at up to $260 million. A feasibility study released in November by the Arena, Arts & Entertainment Task Force, showed that renovating Rupp would cost between $110 million and $130 million, compared to $300 million to $325 million for a new arena.

Expanding Lexington Center to add convention and exhibition space would carry a price tag of $70 million, compared to $100 million to $130 million for a new convention center, according to the study.

But there is pressing need for a new civic center, Gray said. He pointed to a recent report by John Kaatz, a partner in the Conventions, Sports & Leisure International consultant firm, which stated Lexington's convention center might have to double to keep the city competitive in the convention business.
That opinion was for a report CS&L presented to Lexington's Convention and Visitors Bureau Board of Directors last month. "That study said the civic center is too small. It's outdated. And just adding to it would be throwing good money after bad," Gray said.

Bates' plan approved Saturday envisions a number of far-reaching changes:
 Rupp Arena seating would increase slightly through the renovation. Metal bleachers would be replaced by chair-back seats. There would be wider concourses and more rest rooms. Bates said there would be some premium boxes, but he did not give a specific number.

 Fans would enter the arena from the Main Street side into a large lobby with space to mingle before and after games. Two large blue escalators would take them to the second floor concourse to enter the arena.
 Large video screens would be mounted so people outside the arena could see the game, "increasing the sense of inclusion," Bates said. "If you don't have a ticket, if you're not one of the lucky few, you can still be part of the experience. You can still join in pre-game events. You can still be outside and watch on large screens."

The transparency of the walls "increases the fan base, the sense of pride, a sense of belonging," Bates said.

 Throughout the arena would be state-of-the-art sound and video systems, including a drop-down scoreboard suspended over the basketball floor.
 To visually and psychologically connect the University of Kentucky campus more closely with the arena, a request by the university's athletics department, Bates proposed a Catwalk, basically a procession route from campus to Rupp that would go from Euclid Avenue down South Limestone to Maxwell Street, then west on Maxwell to the High Street parking lot in front of the Lexington Center. It would cut through a parking lot to the arena.
After Saturday's meeting, Miller said that what excited her was "the connection of all the pieces. The Town Branch going through. The relocation of the convention center. All those things will give us a city that is walkable and livable. I'm very excited."

Committee member and downtown developer Bill Lear spoke of the potential economic impact of a re-invented Rupp and new civic center: "To me, the most important part of an entertainment district is not that it will draw people from elsewhere — it will draw people from Lexington, the kind of folks who live here 12 months a year. I think they'll come and they will love it."

Michael Speaks, dean of the UK College of Design, said after the meeting that he was impressed with the possibility of "a new iconic building that responds to the needs inside, and what it brings to the outside to the city. That's the power of an icon."
Alan Stein, a member of the arena task force, called the plan "spectacular."
"It's going to be extraordinarily functional, and it's the most economical thing we can do because it retains the base core structure," Stein said.
UK president Eli Capi louto recently said the university would not support asking the state for funds for a new arena. The university's priorities are to build several new dormitories on campus and renovate classroom buildings.

On Saturday, Gray said of UK and the city, "We're joined at the hip. The university's success in its mission is what Dr. Capilouto expressed, rebuilding campus infrastructure. Re-inventing Rupp and a new civic center are essential to our success as a city.

"I support enthusiastically his vision for the campus. This is 'both/and.' It's not an 'either/or' situation."


Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2011/12/17/19977...z1gqaNWCaz