Kimmel Arena Construction Updates (6/11 New Pictures!!)

[uncafan]

Anyone got any pics yet? Or been by? Any progress past destroying the old parking lot?

[DOGGERS BABY!]

Just got back from Tha Ville yesterday. All they have up is a big fence. Nothing worth taking pictures of. You know how UNCA likes to take their time building things. I'm surprised there hasn't been any protests that we are going to be knocking down too many trees yet =) Just kidding!!! Don't everybody get all mad at me now!

[AshevilleStudent]

Word on the street is that no further construction will be taking place due to some sort of a funding problem. The next building project to be completed WILL be the new track facility. But apparently there is some sort of a snag or some other issue with Arena funding and actual construction has not officially begun…and won't for some time. The fence is still up and the parking lot torn up…But beyond that might be a while.

[74TobaccoRoad83]

Not good news. I'm looking forward to catching some games at Kimmel.

[GoUNCA]

Word on the street is that no further construction will be taking place due to some sort of a funding problem. The next building project to be completed WILL be the new track facility. But apparently there is some sort of a snag or some other issue with Arena funding and actual construction has not officially begun…and won't for some time. The fence is still up and the parking lot torn up…But beyond that might be a while.

I think the city has signed on for $500,000 in track funding. Maybe that comes with a "use it or lose it" tag, especially with recession budget cuts. The arena comes with the Health and Wellness center, so it should be funded for the most part. Maybe there was a spending freeze, but I don' t think they've halted work on the Pisgah House...

This certainly can't make parking any more fun.

[uncafan]

Word on the street is that no further construction will be taking place due to some sort of a funding problem. The next building project to be completed WILL be the new track facility. But apparently there is some sort of a snag or some other issue with Arena funding and actual construction has not officially begun…and won't for some time. The fence is still up and the parking lot torn up…But beyond that might be a while.

I think the city has signed on for $500,000 in track funding. Maybe that comes with a "use it or lose it" tag, especially with recession budget cuts. The arena comes with the Health and Wellness center, so it should be funded for the most part. Maybe there was a spending freeze, but I don' t think they've halted work on the Pisgah House...

This certainly can't make parking any more fun.

Makes sense because I do know a lot of community and local things take place out there...and its basically an "open" facility except during track practice hours (and even then there are always tons of people walking and generally getting in the way out there). That may change with the new facility but the track team badly needs some new digs.

[UNCA Alum]

When I went back up to Asheville, I heard we are looking at (best case scenario) January 2010 before we can play games there.

Good thing that the H&W Center is attached to it, or we'd probably have trouble getting the funding.

[Dogger 4 Life]

http://www.thebluebanner.net/home/index ... 2b4726a1f3

no real new information here...but it looks like they are gearing up to start building! it's about time

[WhatAJoke]

...but it looks like they are gearing up to start building! it's about time

Yep, but how do you answer this reply to the article?

Squigley McFarlin
posted 2/04/09 @ 6:22 AM EST
It's nice to see that our state is going to grant $35 million to UNCA as well as purchase land (in a separate Blue Banner article) for an additional $3 million and, in turn, ask each academic department to permanently cut 7% or more from their budgets, cut adjunct faculty positions, postpone new hiring's, cut class offerings, and ask students to print syllabi because departments don't have enough money for paper. I guess this all makes sense to someone in Raleigh. Do I get to participate in activities at the new fitness center when my job gets cut at the end of the semester?

[UNCA Alum]

I would tell him that the Health and Wellness Department simply has to have a new building. It's too big of a program to be housed in the old HFC.

[GoUNCA]

...but it looks like they are gearing up to start building! it's about time

Yep, but how do you answer this reply to the article?

Squigley McFarlin
posted 2/04/09 @ 6:22 AM EST
It's nice to see that our state is going to grant $35 million to UNCA as well as purchase land (in a separate Blue Banner article) for an additional $3 million and, in turn, ask each academic department to permanently cut 7% or more from their budgets, cut adjunct faculty positions, postpone new hiring's, cut class offerings, and ask students to print syllabi because departments don't have enough money for paper. I guess this all makes sense to someone in Raleigh. Do I get to participate in activities at the new fitness center when my job gets cut at the end of the semester?

Doesn't surprise me much. UNCA students will protest anything and everything. Squigley was probably there protesting when the university fired the therapist to help keep costs down.

Old Squigley has a narrow view on it. The money was granted in 2004, back when the economy wasn't in the crapper. The $3 million is justified because it is hard to buy additional land for any campus, especially one located in North Asheville. Plus, who wouldn't buy land at 50% off. Squigley also doesn't take into account the new jobs created by the Wellness Center. The budgets will go back up when the economy goes back up. We are a state school, we have to deal with this sort of thing. Plus, what department still hands out printed syllabi? I was always just given a link to the pdf as part of an environmental effort. I might change my mind and say that WhatAJoke is a disgruntled UNCA student and not "the Cats" or "the Cats" trailer park roommate in Nowhere, Georgia if he keeps quoting reader comments to Blue Banner articles.

I might add that the Blue Banner is the premiere source for UNCA information...

[kingaling42]

I say to Ms. Squiggles- too damn bad!!!

For at least 14 years now the UNCA athletics department has watched various other buildings on campus get renovated & built- Ramsey Library was renovated, various dorms were built and/or torn down & rebuilt, the Student Health & Fitness Center, the new Science Building, the Reuter Center, even the Physical Plant building have all been built..

Meawhile the avenue for the most possible exposure (via athletics- particularly Men's basketball) has gone year after year after year neglected in antiquated settings.. In addition to the new arena is the home of the new major for UNCA in Health & Wellness- which is creating as previously posted other job opportunities & educational benefits for non-athletic oriented students...

I personally work for the state of NC as well- under the Division of Health & Human Services and there are state wide 7% cuts to budgets across the board right now, including where I work- that doesn't mean that I can't provide the services that are required by my job, our facility just installed a new generator & was approved a new telephone system for an antiquated one- spending still has to occur to do the jobs required people!! We just have to cut costs & weather the storm- very few state positions are being eliminated at this time & I know that for a fact (unless she works for the Division of Highways or NC DOT- if so the new UNCA building never affected her to begin with!!) If this is an adjunct professor, then she is more than likely teaching also at AB Tech, South College, Blue Ridge Community College, Mars Hill, Montreat, Warren Wilson, and/or Brevard as well to get by anyway- she may have no true loyalty to UNCA & why should we either?? Besides at some point in time athletics should get it's piece of the money pie as well!! Also, the state doesn't tell UNCA where to cut in regard to each academic department- the department chairs decide that- I think Squiggly Poo will be ok!!!

Interesting for those out there that aren't aware that the funds for this project don't have anything to do with UNCA's annual fiscal budget- it was a statewide Health & Wellness grant in which we got a small part of the funds along with 3 other UNC System schools- so the source of funds for this project aren't even from the same pool of funds from where the cuts are from!! WAKE UP!!

[WhatAJoke]

I say to Ms. Squiggles- too damn bad!!!

So you think it's OK for the state to spend 35 million on this building, plus 3 more for land - then have to borrow $13 million from the federal government to pay its unemployment jobless benefits this week? and the state will likely need to borrow again.

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs. ... 0990212103

Your attidude: Screw 'em, we want this building - back when times were good, it was approved, now that there is almost record umemployment in the state, tought stuff..... they still gotta give us this building - hell, our team needs a better place to play basketball......after all - hell, I got my job.... its a safe "state" job... and this building is more important tham those unfortunate non-people drawing umemployment, right?

[kingaling42]

Has the term "ear marked funds" ever entered your thought process??

Do you have any idea the varying pools of funds that are federally allocated to the state level??? Subsequently, do you know that these various funds cannot legally be used for alternative allocations past a certain point??

Yes- I do say the hell with Ms. Squiggles because I've been around UNCA long enough to hear the faculty arguments even against D-1 athetics in general- again, the various pools of funds that fund athletics DO NOT fund academics through the state system.. additionally the cost of D-1 athletics is really not much different than the cost of fielding athletic teams at the lower levels as the funding needs are essentially the same- IN FACT, the ability to raise funds through guarantee games (like, UNC, Duke, etc, etc..) would be affected considerably & the athletic funding would need to be subsidized somehow to account for the lack of fund revenue.. in other words, most people don't have a real clue how these systems work- they just hear the state giving x, y, or z funds & assume it's always directly related to something that they're not receiving- those folks are no less selfish than those wanting a new arena- besides the new arena infrastructure portion isn't being funded by the grant, the arena/flooring/seating funding is all from private sources!!! 90% of the building structure/infrastructure & the Health/Wellness department are within the grant- so the signed bill from 4 years ago is dedicated to a new major for the school- the building is being built bigger to accomodate the arena but that is a small portion of the total funds allocated..

Again, let me repeat- the funding is primarily for a center for Health & Wellness here in the Western part of NC.. are you really going to argue that that is a bad thing?? It's actually quite cost effective for the building to also accomodate the new arena & share some common space- that's called utilizing resources to the fullest potential.

So I ask isn't it better to fund an additional small portion to accomodate the dual needs- or should we be more wasteful & have to purchase more land & build a separate building for the arena in the future when the economy turns around which would actually cost the state more money in the long run???

Athletics & the new gym was put for decades on the back burner- hell the Reuter Center isn't even for UNCA students or staff but is for the Center for Retired Individuals.. How does a non-revenue producing community group merit the funds for this dedicated building before the needs of the campus are addressed??? I never heard any uproar about that from Squiggles & that funding came right out of state budgeted allocations!!!

[GoUNCA]

I say to Ms. Squiggles- too damn bad!!!

So you think it's OK for the state to spend 35 million on this building, plus 3 more for land - then have to borrow $13 million from the federal government to pay its unemployment jobless benefits this week? and the state will likely need to borrow again.

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs. ... 0990212103

Your attidude: Screw 'em, we want this building - back when times were good, it was approved, now that there is almost record umemployment in the state, tought stuff..... they still gotta give us this building - hell, our team needs a better place to play basketball......after all - hell, I got my job.... its a safe "state" job... and this building is more important tham those unfortunate non-people drawing umemployment, right?

Nope, I still think you are the cats. No one else would say anything this stupid.

The $35 million was in hand in 2004 and the money for athletics is being raised privately as was even referenced in the Blue banner article you already posted. You can't mix and match funds. I am led to believe that the overall dollar amount is your main concern, then the preventative medical treatment, nutritional counseling, and wellness programs that the $35 million dollar investment brings to taxpayers over time will without a doubt bypass the initial price tag. Not to mention the people that have the construction jobs to build the building and the materials used in the construction and construction process...

So yes, My answer is still that the money is being used appropriately and that I place this project above "tham" unemployed people in matter of importance monetarily speaking. I guess you would like to pull all educational funding? That way we won't have skilled workers...who also won't have any jobs...Yep, that is a better alternative. As for the state burrowing money, I guess it would always be better for the US to have a surplus, but that hasn't happened since Clinton left office in 1999.

It seems your problem isn't with UNCA spending money they have more than it is with the government at large. My advice is to get over it or go write your congressman because this is a message board for athletics. Go read Ann Coulter or Kevin Philips if you need to be riled up politically in order to sleep at night.

[WhatAJoke]

Has the term "ear marked funds" ever entered your thought process??

Do you have any idea the varying pools of funds that are federally allocated to the state level??? Subsequently, do you know that these various funds cannot legally be used for alternative allocations past a certain point??

What a total bunch of crap. I certainly know what ear marked funds are, and I certainly know the state legislature made the funding guidelines, I also know they can "at the drop of a hat" change them, expecially in times of a state financial crisis.

[UNCA Alum]

A common fallacy during political discourse... and one that comes up quite frequently.... is that money being spent by the government for X could instead easily be spent on Y.

The bottom line is that we need a new building for our HW program. It was going to have to be made eventually. We are getting a deal on it now by building it when the economy is in the tank. The fact that a new arena is going to be part of it (with private contributions coming in for it, might I add) is just icing on the cake. This isn't $35M for just a new basketball arena.

[UNCA Alum]

Our federal government has only had a surplus two years out of the last 80 I think. And we wouldn't have had one then if not for the technology boom leading to insane capital gains/taxable incomes. That bubble fell pretty quickly starting in 2000.

2009 and 2010 will be the two largest deficits in our nation's history.

But hell, if they are going to hand out $800,000,000,000 (is that billion?) that they don't have.... You can't really fault our state for trying to get as much of the pie as possible.

[kingaling42]

Squiggles be damned- If you BUILD IT they will come!! Perhaps he/she should have went to UNCA to be as best prepared for these hard times which are certainly no laughing matter for many people nationwide- but jobs have to be fostered even now to best prepare for & stabilize tomorrow..


But perhaps you're right I don't have a clue what you're saying Jokes- can you translate this??

.... and this building is more important tham those unfortunate non-people drawing umemployment, right?

What the hell is an "unfortunate non-people" that can draw "umemployment"??? I wasn't aware that they gave out "umemployment" to non-people...

Does that mean we can send Rocky the Bulldog down somewhere for some benefits or money??

[GoUNCA]

Our federal government has only had a surplus two years out of the last 80 I think. And we wouldn't have had one then if not for the technology boom leading to insane capital gains/taxable incomes. That bubble fell pretty quickly starting in 2000.

Yeah, I wasn't trying to say it was Clinton who was responsible for the surplus. That would be a debate not needed here. I was more using Clinton as a reference in time. That was a long time ago. I am in grad school now and I guess I was in middle school then.

A common fallacy during political discourse... and one that comes up quite frequently.... is that money being spent by the government for X could instead easily be spent on Y.

[/quote]

So true. Thanks for posting this.

[uncafan]

...but it looks like they are gearing up to start building! it's about time

Yep, but how do you answer this reply to the article?

Squigley McFarlin
posted 2/04/09 @ 6:22 AM EST
It's nice to see that our state is going to grant $35 million to UNCA as well as purchase land (in a separate Blue Banner article) for an additional $3 million and, in turn, ask each academic department to permanently cut 7% or more from their budgets, cut adjunct faculty positions, postpone new hiring's, cut class offerings, and ask students to print syllabi because departments don't have enough money for paper. I guess this all makes sense to someone in Raleigh. Do I get to participate in activities at the new fitness center when my job gets cut at the end of the semester?

here's the deal on that money -- the majority of it is coming from the Tobacco company suits/settlements and can't be used for all the things talked about my Squigley (and where was this post? etc.?). In fact, my understanding is the reason asheville was able to use this money is because it HAS to be used to promote health and wellness in the state of N.C. If UNCA didn't decide to start and then grow the new 'health and wellness promotions' dept the money would have simply gone to some other school or group that was willing to promote health and wellness in a similar fashion. UNCA should be applauded for having the creativity to use the funds in a 'dual' nature and achieve several much needed objectives/improvements.

[kingaling42]

You are correct with the source of funds & the allocation- the funds was a total sum for use by NC- there were no projects in Western NC planned before Wayne McDevitt (former Vice-chancellor & alumni) proposed the new HW department on the tails of that grant- for the record UNCA was also granted the smallest allocation of those total earmarked funds..

[GoUNCA]

This could be a huge April Fools joke, but the athletic department posted something on the Track and arena construction. The picture is the first I have seen. I like the way it looks. I like the seating behind the basket, but I have to go ahead and be against students being put behind the basket. I want them down the line opposite the camera ala Cameron Indoor. I think it is much flashier and intimidating.

Other than that I think it looks very nice. It should really help with recruiting.

http://www.uncabulldogs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&ATCLID=3705212&DB_OEM_ID=19200

[UNCA Alum]

LOL at Sean Smith's name going across the screen at the scorers table.

Got a message from the Frog man today that they are starting make some moves as far as construction goes.

[GoUNCA]

Upon further looking at the picture, here are some other thoughts I had:

- I also laugh at Sean Smith's name on the scorer's table. Although, I certainly hope to see it there a lot next year.
- I really like that we are keeping the slanted roof instead of a flat roof. It is a nice architectural homage to the landscape of the surrounding region. I also really like the zig-zagged wall behind the basket and the use of columns.
- I am a little confused about the little roof things opening from the concourse level. Is this practical or aesthetic? If it is the latter, will it help to hold sound on the court?
- I like that camera platforms were created.
- I would rather have the mountainous "UNC Asheville" graphic on center court than the scripted "A". And please don't think about putting the Rocky head on there.

[UNCA Alum]

I don't know man. I kind of like the A.

I'm trying to figure out what's going on in the top right corner. Is that a video screen or just a picture? Would be pretty tight if we get a video screen.

I also like the new scoreboard.

Don't know where the students are going to sit. Behind the basket seems like their most likely destination, but I would like to see them on the sides as well.


Though the courtside seats opposite of the bench seem like prime real esate for the deep pocketed alums, such as myself.

[GoUNCA]

I don't know man. I kind of like the A......

Though the courtside seats opposite of the bench seem like prime real esate for the deep pocketed alums, such as myself.

I think my problem isn't really with the scripted A. I really like how it looks on the baseball caps. I just think it would beneficial to have the entire school name on floor for any television time we get.

You should request really thick foam seats be put on the first row, just like at the wine and cheese arena near Raleigh.

[BornToRun86]

I was down there this weekend. Construction has definitely started. The tennis courts are gone, and all the trees/pavement from the upper parking lot have been torn up. Looks ugly right now, but I'm sure we'll get a nice basketball venue out of it.

[GoUNCA]

[uncafan]

(just edited and changed the pics to links...they are big and they were getting cut so you couldn't see much in the window...just click the links and you can 'blow up' the pics further too if you want)

Just some pictures as of the weekend on construction on new athletic facilities!!

This first one is looking accross the track towards the baseball field... The whole hill is torn up as they start the track project, and also the 'joint
concession stand/bathroom project for track/baseball. Word on the street is they are actually trying to get it all done by October!

http://www.uncafans.com/uncahistory/wiki/images/9/93/Accross-track.jpg

This is from the back of the HFC looking up to where the Tennis Courts used to be.... For those of you that haven't seen the 'full video' that driveway (which is closed right now) and that whole 'path' between the new building and old justice/HFC will become a sorta park like walkway/gateway to the rest of the athletic facilities...Very cool concept. As you can see, just a lot of dirt being moved.
http://www.uncafans.com/uncahistory/wiki/images/2/21/From-track-up.jpg

This is from Justice looking up the hill where the stairs to the parking lot used to be (or around there)
http://www.uncafans.com/uncahistory/wiki/images/0/0d/Side-hill.jpg

And this is from the back campus entrance intersection -- up near Reuter center looking down/ Amazing you can see right through to the baseball field but very cool...
http://www.uncafans.com/uncahistory/wiki/images/4/4b/Top-campus-down.jpg


In general it just looks like a lot of dirt being moved around.... But they did have some palates of cement blocks over in the baseball field parking lot... so those are obviously going somewhere soon.... And when i went down the back entrance to campus they also had quite a few stacks of blocks and palates over on the Kimmel Arena site so....maybe they'll be getting actually building progress done soon? Then again...they could also just be for when they move that retainer wall back and need to rebuild portions of it (from image #2)....

But very exciting -- even if they are just moving dirt....