Anticipated Cost, Start Date, Designs For Fifth Third Arena Renovations Revealed

An updated Request for Qualifications has been administered by the University of Cincinnati for renovations on Fifth Third Arena. UC issued a RFQ way back in October that laid out their desired cost, timeline, and overview of upgrades for the two-decade old venue.

Now that Populus Architexture firm Populous has been tabbed to draw up the designs, it’s been updated to reflect a more realistic estimate of costs and the like. Here’s a rundown of the major nuggets I’m most interested in if you don’t want to read the whole thing.

• Anticipated cost is $80 million all in, up from $70 million in the initial RFQ.
• UC hopes to identify a construction firm by September of this year.
• Construction is set to begin in March 2016 immediately following Cincinnati’s upcoming basketball season. The Bearcats will have to play elsewhere for a season until Fifth Third renovations are complete in September 2017.
• Capacity will be reduced to 10,818. A fair trade off considering they’re adding several suites and loge boxes to comfortably seat 46 and 32 in addition to the 1,000+ other seats Populous is considering “premium seating”.
• The new renderings (pictured above) don’t deviate much from the originals. I’m still a little bummed the rafters made the latest design.
• I’m pleased that the seats in the corners of Fifth Third Arena will be angled to actually face the court. Folks don’t pay much for these seats but I doubt they like craning their neck to watch the game. Plus the fact that they’ve done away with the dead space in the corners on the second level is certainly appealing on the eyes.
• A little disappointing is the idea of 876 retractable seats along each sideline to allow for a pair of practice courts to be installed. I was hoping they would do away with these entirely but if they’re at least comfortable I guess I’m OK with them.
• The student section will be reduced to 1,417 seats not including overflow, effectively cutting it in half. That makes sense considering the kind of revenue generating opportunities are available behind both baskets.
• Revenue generating opportunities in terms of UCATS, who will have an awesome “Super Suite” behind one of the baskets and will seat 74. You’re gonna want to join UCATS.
• Overall the design has a look and feel of the Peterson Events Center at Pitt. That’s not a bad thing.