Moving the Lexington Center's convention facilities to the rear of the arena would allow for a new plaza space to be created adjacent to Triangle Park, to include retail, dining options, an LED screen and direct entry into the arena.Photo Furnished by NBBJ + EOP
The month of March will see Lexington proponents fighting in Frankfort to retain — if not gain on — the $65 million Gov. Steve Beshear allotted in his proposed budget to “reinvent” Rupp Arena and the adjacent convention center, the Lexington Center.
Currently akin to a corrugated steel box, plans for the redesigned Rupp Arena would encase the existing bowl — the stands and court — with a new glass and steel structure, while moving convention spaces to the rear of the building. A new plaza would be created between the Hyatt Regency and the arena in space that is currently wide corridors for entry to the arena and convention space, in an effort to, as Lexington Mayor Jim Gray said, “free Rupp.”
The design calls for an increase in convention space that currently sits on the north and east sides of the arena and would be reconstructed on the west and northwest walls of the structure, including a transparent view to the concourses of the arena.
“The bones of Rupp Arena are very good,” said architect Robert Mankin, a partner with the firm NBBJ. “The bowl has this incredible space and this incredible presence about it, and we’ve wanted to keep that as we’ve developed the design. But we’ve also wanted to introduce modern amenities that you find in arenas today.”
In addition to what the mayor’s administration says are much-needed updates to the arena, the $310 million project will birth a new convention experience for the city, adding 44 percent more space.
Currently the Lexington Center’s exhibition space is 66,000 square feet, according to Mankin, the face of the architects working on the Rupp project. The new exhibition space, which will be 100,000 square feet, will be built onto the back of Rupp Arena between High and Main streets toward Jefferson. Meanwhile, a new ballroom and meeting spaces totaling 53,000 square feet will be placed along Main Street to replace their 40,000-square-foot predecessors, currently in use.
The plan to both add space and open Rupp to the street would require divorcing the convention space from adjacent hotels. The Hyatt Regency is the most closely connected hotel, as the lobby leads directly to the Lexington Center’s High Street entryway. Across Broadway, the Hilton currently connects through two different pedways: one that leads to the Hyatt via the Central Bank building and another that connects through the former Festival Market Building and the Square [the recently rebranded Victorian Square].
“It’s all images. They’re interesting and exciting, and let’s see what’s behind all of those images,” said Larry Bell, general manager of the 366-guestroom Hyatt, when asked about the recently unveiled design. Bell, who also served in the same role across the street at what was then a Radisson-branded hotel, said he was looking forward to learning more about the project before commenting.
The effect that the extra distance and the construction itself would have on the Hyatt Regency and 367-room Hilton Lexington/Downtown across Broadway is something Jim Browder of VisitLex, the city’s convention and visitors bureau, said remains to be seen.
“I know there is an intent in the design on their part to ensure connectivity and adjacency to the hotels, but I haven’t seen all the details yet,” Browder said of the designs from NBBJ in collaboration with local firm EOP Architects.
“We haven’t gotten any feedback yet from the hotel-side as far as any potential cancellations or anything like that,” he said. “I think a lot of them are waiting for this [unveiling] to talk directly with the convention center, because obviously the hotels aren’t going anywhere — it’s the convention center space. I think we need timelines, but now, since we’re at this place, they can work on timelines with us.”
But dealing with construction, Browder said, is nothing new to hotel professionals. Both the Hyatt and Hilton have undergone major renovations in the past few years, and dealing with work near them is something he is confident they can overcome.
“When you work for a hotel or a convention center, there are going to be disruptions, so it’s just a matter of figuring out how we can work around them and move forward,” he said.
At the very least, Browder said it is good Lexington has gotten to a point where the idea of a new convention center and a renovated Rupp Arena has gone from the abstract to the concrete.
“Now we can make some progress on seeing what we have to do,” he said. “There were just too many loose ends that they had to work around for us to be able to give any direction to this point.”
Gray, too, said he was glad to get to the point where years of discussion — dating back to a plan that his predecessor Jim Newberry rolled out to build a new arena in the Lexington Center’s High Street parking lot — has gone from concept to actionable design.
“We’ve taken the themes that emerged in the master plan and taken those themes and now put them into this very real and tangible and achievable design,” Gray told Business Lexington.
“This is more than just concept. This has been worked through the programming and the planning details, the operational issues. That’s why it’s encouraging to be at this place,” Gray said about the plan, which included all the intricacies that a major event space would need, such as loading docks for both the arena and exhibition space.
Lexington Center board chairman Brent Rice, who also chaired the Rupp Arena Arts and Entertainment District Task Force, said this new design would help attract more events and major concerts to Rupp Arena.
While explaining the importance of the annual Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s March Madness event to the arena, Rice joked KHSAA “sells this out five times a year; Bruce Springsteen can’t do that.” That same day, Springsteen announced a 15-stop tour that included Cincinnati, Nashville and Columbus, a city Gray and Rice have cited as an ideal example for Lexington in terms of a successful district being borne from an arena.
When asked about the redone Rupp’s ability to attract the type of concerts it used to when it opened in the late ’70s, Rice said, “There’s no question. One of our strategic financial partners is Live Nation, the biggest concert promoters in the world; they own Ticketmaster. Very early on, they told us ‘Here’s your problem,’” he said, in reference to the fan experience to those who would attend major concerts at Rupp.
“Elton John doesn’t come here anymore — name them all. The reason they don’t come here anymore is we don’t have modern amenities. We don’t have chairs for the upper-arena seats,” Rice said.
All of this can be completed in time for the 2017 season of UK basketball, Gray and Rice said, if the $65 million proposed by Gov. Beshear is maintained in the final budget to be passed by the legislature before they adjourn on or before April 15. If that occurs, construction could begin during the first quarter of 2015.
How the final $245 million of the proposed project would be paid for remains to be seen.
“We have not been sitting idle at all, dealing with this financing plan,” Rice said. “We’ve had conversations with our legislature, we’ve had many conversations with [KHSAA], the University of Kentucky, as well as the convention and visitors bureau and members of Urban County Council … We will continue to do that. We have been working on a long-term lease with the University of Kentucky.
“That lease, it will define UK’s contribution of this project,” Rice said.
After it is complete, Rice promised a “specific” financial plan. Some items that would be figured into that plan include tax increment financing and “naming rights, more concerts, events, more conventions, meetings and the development of 20 acres that is a tremendous asset that the city has on High Street,” Rice said.
“Although we have not made a decision yet about naming opportunities,” Rice said, “it’s the last thing we want to do. And we know ‘Rupp’ will always be part of this name.”
But now that the design is complete, an accurate figure can be determined.
“What we have today is a bona fide plan, and we know what it’s going to cost,” Gray said. “We’re within striking distance of this project materializing.”
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