UNC Mulls Spate of Arena Options
For months, the contentious debate over the future basketball arena for the North Carolina men’s basketball team has been fueled, in the absence of numbers, by emotion.
The memories. The victories. The history of the Dean E. Smith Student Activities Center. The way the place erupts on a last-second shot to beat Duke. The banners and jerseys hanging above the iconic court.
But in meeting after meeting after meeting over the past few weeks North Carolina officials have begun to explain, in detail, the hard dollars and cents behind the Tar Heels’ arena options as they seek consensus on whether to renovate or replace their iconic 40-year-old on-campus venue.
The presentation includes a mission statement, six priorities and objectives, quantitative and qualitative breakdowns of seven potential venue options and overviews on legacy seats, premium seating and student seating at the Dean Dome and other sites.
“There’s emotion, there’s logic and there’s finance,” North Carolina athletics director Bubba Cunningham said this week. “I think now we’re starting to get more to the logic and the finance with everyone.”
Tolton Catholic Breaks Ground on New Sports Complex
Tolton Regional Catholic High School broke ground on the first phase of construction upgrades to its football, soccer and track surfaces.
A ceremony to launch the construction project took place Wednesday afternoon on the current field. The Trailblazers have used the current facilities since the school opened in 2011.
The project, part of Tolton’s Blazers — Game On! campaign, is the last step in finishing the original design of the school, which was built 15 years ago. The first of two phases consist of renovating the existing football and soccer field from grass to turf, and resurfacing the surrounding gravel track that is attached to the southeast of the school’s campus.
Kenmore Middle School Begins Revamp of Athletics Fields
An overhaul of the sports fields near Kenmore Middle School is expected to begin construction later this year.
Construction could start in the fall and take about a year. In place of the existing, aging fields would rise a complex providing two baseball/softball diamonds plus rectangular fields for soccer, field hockey and lacrosse.
“Our goal is to wrap up [the permit process] and go into bidding this spring. If all goes well, we’d like to bring this project to the [County] Board by summer,” said Bernadette Grullon, a Department of Parks and Recreation staff member serving as project manager.
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