Lexington, KY – Gov. Steve Beshear rolled out his proposed two-year budget to legislators that – if approved as-is – would give Lexington a $65 million jumpstart on the project to renovate Rupp Arena and move the convention center.
A final proposal of how the city will pay for the project in the heart of Lexington’s downtown has yet to be released. Over the summer Lexington Center Chairman Brent Rice – who also headed the Rupp Arena Arts and Entertainment District Task Force – promised a “bulletproof” financial plan to fund the renovations to the arena and the other desired upgrades in the area.
During the July press conference when Rice made that statement, he said that plan would be released within 45 days. The mayor’s office has indicated that the plan was held back pending a better indication of what type of funding the state might be willing to put in and until new practical designs for the arena were ready. Previously released designs were conceptual.
Earlier in the day in his State of the City Address, Mayor Jim Gray said new renderings for Rupp and the convention center would be rolled out in the coming days.
“This project, at its heart, is about economic development… jobs,” Gray said in a statement released Tuesday night in reaction to the governor’s proposal to award Lexington $65 million in general fund bonds. “Governor Beshear recognizes that and understands how important the reinvention of Rupp Arena is to UK, our city and our state.”
The mayor’s thoughts were echoed by Rice, who promised that an investment by the state now would pay off for decades to come.
“Lexington Center applauds Governor Beshear for including the plans for Rupp in his budget. We’re looking forward to making Rupp better than new, state of the art, and more competitive for the next 40 years,” Rice said.
The $65 million is $10 million less than was proposed and ultimately granted in former Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s 2006 budget for the Louisville arena project, which produced the KFC Yum! Center on the riverfront in downtown Louisville.
While that project has come under financial scrutiny since its completion and has seen the bonds issued to build it downgraded to “junk” status, Gray has indicated that his group has taken to heart the hard-learned lessons in Louisville to find a plan that would keep the Lexington project solvent.
Also in the governor’s budget, which he’s touted as giving an “historic lift” to education, is $80 million in state money for capital projects at the University of Kentucky, $45 million of which would upgrade academic learning centers by converting a portion of the Margaret I. King Library to core campus classrooms, with the other $35 million going to expand and renovate the law school building.
Beshear’s budget would also authorize UK to issue its own bonds to pay for $385 million in work:
• $160 million to renovate and expand the university's student center.
• $150 million to upgrade existing UK HealthCare facilities on the Chandler Medical Center campus including patient beds, surgery, diagnostic, the children’s hospital and more.
• $30 million to expand, renovate and upgrade the law building (which would be in addition to the $35 million that would come from the general fund).
• $45 million to construct a new parking structure with space for 1,500 vehicles.