Notes on FSU's plans to upgrade the Civic Center & Doak Campbell

Notes on FSU's plans to upgrade the Civic Center & Doak Campbell

DotCom
6/1/2013

"I had the opportunity to speak with the two main planners in FSU's Facilities Department - Larry Rubin (Director) and Mark Bertolami (Director for Planning & Space Management). We spoke extensively about some major proposals going forward involving the Civic Center and to a lesser extent Doak Campbell Stadium.

Doak Campbell Stadium - The major proposal going forward is a Club Seat Section that Warchant.com first reported on last year. The Club Seats, if approved, will be located in the south end zone above the Marching Chiefs. It would be an extension of the University Center Club. As such, this section would include quick access to air conditioned areas, some shading, TVs, adult beverages, much easier access to bathrooms, etc.

According to Rubin and Bertolami there are still some coding issues that need to be straightened out. But they deferred most of the issues surrounding the Club Seat Section to the Seminole Boosters since this was primarily their project. The last time we checked with the Boosters they were hoping to pre-sell the tickets so they would have enough of a financial buffer in pace before going forward with the project. Sounds like 2014 is a possibility but we plan to speak to Booster President & CEO Andy Miller regarding specifics including the timing of the project if approved.

Other minor changes that should come for Doak include overhauling the bathrooms and concession areas. Re-painting the interior is also a major project on the docket."




"Civic Center - The most significant proposals that will be presented to FSU president Eric Barron and the Board involve massive changes to the Civic Center.

As most of you are aware, Florida State purchased the Civic Center last year from the City of Tallahassee. In speaking to Rubin and Bertolami the management of the facility has been a major undertaking. Running a multipurpose facility that hosts concerts and tractor pulls is something that nobody at FSU is trained to do. As such, it has been a difficult process figuring out how to run and manage the new purchase.

While getting the facility up and running smoothly is a major challenge there's no debate that the Civic Center is extremely antiquated and in desperate need of some upgrades. With that in mind, FSU hired an outside firm called Populous to evaluate the Civic Center, make recommendations, come up with different proposals, design plans and so on. This the same company that did Yankee Stadium, Heniz Field, Texas A&M and the overhaul of USF's Sun Dome. There is a huge proposal being put together by FSU Facilities that will have all of this information complete with drawings, costs, recommendations and so on. At last check it wasn't finalized yet. We plan to wait until it is finalized before requesting the records.

They made a point of telling me that the $100 million figure being reported for the Civic Center remodeling is misleading. That figure represents the cost if FSU adopted every single proposal submitted by Populous, which was never a possibility. Instead, there's a huge laundry list of possibilities that will be submitted that the FSU president and Board will select from.

Here's a rundown of the major proposals and recommendations for the Civic Center that will be reviewed by FSU: 

• $10 million is needed to take care maintenance issues and basic upgrades that must be resolved in the near future. This includes new seats, updated sound system, scoreboard, improving acoustics (for when the Civic Center hosts concerts), paving the parking lot and complying with ADA requirements. It was noted that the facility is structurally sound.

• Changing the entrance to give it the look and feel of a Florida State sports complex and not a generic multipurpose Civic Center. As  you can see in the photo above there is nothing special about the entrance and overhauling the look was a major recommendation made by Populous. One drawing I saw showed a huge walkway leading up from the parking lot with a dramatic entrance that had a modern plaza area in front of the arena that would let everybody know it was an FSU complex. 

• Massive change to parking lot. There were several different proposals all with varying costs. The extreme was eliminating the current parking lot and relying on nearby parking garages - one hope is that the city will build another garage across from the civic center on land it owns, and possibly fix up the current state garages that are also nearby. If that were to happen it would open up the possibility of building a hotel on the property and even potentially moving the FSU School of Hospitality there. Whether or not that happens, a lot or all of the current parking lot would be eliminated and turned into a much more appealing grassy area. This is all be part of the larger goal of changing the look and feel of the facility.

• For inside the actual Civic Center there are a few significant proposals being considered. One is raising up the seats behind the baskets where the students currently sit so they are much closer to the court. This is typical of what you see at most college basketball arenas. Another is to take out some of the luxury boxes (a good percentage go unsold and take up space) and turn them into what is effectively a club seat section. It would cost a lot less to sit in this section and could be purchased on a game-by-game basis. For instance, if somebody had a birthday party and needed 20 seats for a game that could be easily done instead of having the ultra expensive and long-term obligations associated with the luxury boxes. The final major recommendation put forth is changing the concourses such that the bathrooms and concessions, which are currently on the inside of the concourse around the seating for the court, to the outside of the concourse. If that change took place, you would actually see the court and seats as soon as you walked in. Now when you enter the Civic Center your view of the court an seats are effectively blocked since it walled off because of concessions and bathrooms.
• Expansion of the Practice Facility. There are several different variations to how this can be done with the cost ranging from $10-$25 million. The major concern here is the men's and women's team having to share the same court.  There are frequent conflicts and this creates a lot of scheduling issues for both teams. As such, the main objective here is to have two areas - one designed for the men's team and the other for the women.   One interesting possibility is to expand the facility such that it can also be used to accommodate the volleyball team. That would effectively free up Tully Gym (Volleyball is the last FSU sport that uses that facility) for other uses. Of course this option would get the cost closer to the $25 million figure.

Of course most of this will come down to money. These are tough financial times so don't expect all or even most of these recommendations to be adopted, at least not in the short term. What the city does will also have some impact, such as building a new parking garage across from the Civic Center."

Major change in the works for Doak Campbell?

"Florida State's financial coffers got a surprise boost during the FSU Board of Trustees meeting earlier this month when it was announced that the school received an additional $1.6 million in revenue from the ACC. Those funds, combined with some additional adjustments, were just enough to erase next year's $2.4 million projected budget deficit for the athletic department."

"If the reshaping of the end zone gets the thumbs up, patrons in the new section would have full access to the University Center Club including a much wider variety of food choices and access to alcoholic beverages. Club seat ticket holders would also enjoy amenities such as wider seats, seat backs, more elevators, additional bathrooms, quick access to air conditioned areas and big screen televisions. There is also a possibility that part of the section could be under cover providing much needed shade.

"We've got a really cool and sexy plan," Seminole Boosters CEO Andy Miller said of the club seat idea. "The area on the third floor right in front of the ballroom will be blown out and it will be a stadium club. There will be a glass wall that when you are inside you can look out and see the field. The band will be in front of you which will add to the look and feel of the whole game... It will all be connected - fifth floor and sixth floor - everything will be connected so people will be able to access all levels of the club."

"Any renovations inside the stadium will naturally reduce the overall capacity but Kutz insists that won't be a major issue with this project.

"We saw plans that would bring the stadium capacity down to an unacceptable level," he said. "If we just did this project (club seats) it wouldn't affect capacity by more than a thousand or two thousand. We'll still be over 80,000."

Miller estimated that club seats sales could potentially net an additional $1 million to the program per year."

"New athletic dorm on track

A project that is much closer to becoming finalized is a new athletic dorm. The antiquated Burt Reynolds Hall, located on Hayden Road just west of the stadium, was built in the late 1980's. There has been a push for several years to either renovate the complex or to build an entirely new dorm.

Andy Miller told Warchant.com that approval to build a new $9 million complex across the street will be up for approval by the FSU Board of Trustees in September. Should those plans and financing be approved, the dorm/apartments should be open for business by the summer of 2013.

This is another project that should provide additional revenue to the Seminole Boosters and the athletic department.

"The athletic dorm itself (due to be completed in 2013) is potentially a $500,000 to $600,000 a year cash flow for the program," said Miller."