From the Austin American-Statesman
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/02/8utbuild.html
$149.9 million expansion of UT stadium planned
Price tag for hotel-conference center rises 44 percent, to $120.9 million.
By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
University of Texas System regents on Thursday are expected to approve spending nearly $150 million to remodel and expand Royal-Memorial Stadium.
The project, scheduled to be completed in August 2008, would boost seating capacity for football games to more than 90,000.
The regents also are expected to authorize construction of a $120.9 million hotel and conference center at the southern edge of campus. That is nearly $37 million more than previous estimates, an increase caused partly by the need to build underground parking to avoid condemning a restaurant that has operated adjacent to the site for more than 20 years.
The stadium expansion, which focuses on the north end zone, has been under discussion for some time, but officials have not disclosed a price tag until now. The $149.9 million cost includes $15 million approved by the regents in November for renovating and expanding the west side of the stadium, work that is under way.
"We had exceptional demand before we won the national championship. I think because of winning the national championship, sales of the inventory of new seating will probably go even faster than we anticipated," said Patti Ohlendorf, UT-Austin's vice president for institutional relations and legal affairs.
The expansion would make Royal-Memorial one of the nation's largest college football stadiums but not one of the true giants. The University of Michigan's stadium has a capacity of 107,501, and Penn State's seats 107,282.
A committee of regents will meet in Austin today to consider the stadium and hotel-conference center projects, with the full Board of Regents scheduled to take action Thursday. UT System Chancellor Mark Yudof and his top aides have recommended approval.
The stadium proposal calls for replacing the existing north end zone structure. Besides increasing the seating capacity, currently 80,082, the project would add offices for the cheerleading program, production TV crew members, ticketing, patron services, the Longhorn Foundation, athletics officials and academic advising. Also, sprinklers would be added to interior portions of the stadium that lack such fire controls.
"There will also be some gymnasiums in the basement for academic use, classes and that type of thing," Ohlendorf said. "And there will be a portion — I think one floor — not yet finished out that will have some future university use."
Bonds would be issued to cover $106.6 million of the project, with the debt to be repaid from revenue generated by Centennial Room and west stadium seating. Gifts would pay for $35 million, and the $8.3 million balance would be covered by investment returns on UT-Austin's construction account.
The budget for the hotel and conference center — to be known as the University of Texas Executive Education and Conference Center — is poised to rise about 44 percent from the $84 million estimated last year.
UT-Austin officials had hoped to acquire the adjacent property occupied by Player's restaurant for a parking garage to serve the hotel and conference center, but the restaurant's owners didn't want to sell. Although the regents had authorized the use of eminent domain to acquire the tract, a legislative effort last year to restrict the university's condemnation power prompted officials to forgo that option.
The increased cost for the project stems from a decision to build three levels of underground parking and to expand executive education capacity, with 300 hotel rooms rather than 250, according to UT System records.
The financing plan consists of $85.9 million in bonds, $30 million in gifts and $5 million in investment earnings from UT-Austin's construction account. Bond debt would be paid with revenue from operating the hotel and garage.
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Royal-Memorial Stadium
Seating capacity: 80,082
Total capacity: 85,000, including media, stadium workers and others
Largest crowd: 84,082, against Nebraska in 1999
First game: Nov. 8, 1924, against Baylor, at what was then known as Memorial Stadium
Source: University of Texas
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) there were White Hens (I think thats the name of them) on every other corner it seemed. They were small mini-marts. They were convinience store sized (maybe a bit bigger) but had a full deli, and were stocked with staples and less junk food than a convinience store would be.
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