Allen face-lift pondered

Suites could be added but 'aura' must remain

Nobody is clamoring for a new basketball palace at Kansas University.

Jayhawk coaches, players, fans and boosters alike remain enamored with Allen Fieldhouse, KU’s 16,300-seat hoops home, which opened in 1955.

“Anybody who has seen a game in the fieldhouse will tell you what we have at KU is the best,” athletic director Al Bohl said.

He’s not jealous of the University of Missouri, which is building a new $75 million arena to open Oct. 1, 2004.

And he’s not envious of Kansas State, which built much-criticized Bramlage Coliseum for $17.2 million in 1988.

Yet Bohl and other KU officials do realize the aging fieldhouse is far from perfect and needs a face-lift from time to time.

“The fieldhouse will be 50 years old in 2005. We are always looking at ways of keeping this a viable building,” Kansas senior associate athletic director Richard Konzem said.

As such, plans are on tap for a video board and sound system, which will be purchased and installed once $4 million or so is raised. There are plans for a Hall of Fame, gift shop and Naismith room to be constructed off the east lobby area.

A grandiose possibility is the addition of skyboxes or suites in the upper reaches of the fieldhouse.

“People contact us with proposals from time to time. A company did come in and presented a plan (for suites),” Bohl said, referring to Sparks Architects, the same company that expanded Oklahoma State’s Gallagher-Iba Arena two years ago.

“They try to show you that if you build (suites), you will raise additional revenue that will pay for the project quickly. We are not progressing in trying to do anything like that right now,” Bohl said, noting the videoboard project was KU’s No. 1 priority. “We are committed to making sure the aura of the building, the atmosphere of the fieldhouse, will remain.”

Suites, which cost $30,000 to rent at KU’s Memorial Stadium, could be built on the upper level of the fieldhouse “without taking the roof off the building,” Konzem said.

“You could kick out the walls and basically build a new facade around a part of the outside,” he said. “You could extend the area on any or all sides of the building by about 24 feet on the very top level. You could build suites or a club-level section.

“Basically it’s like what we did on the south end when we added the elevator and restrooms. You build out from the existing wall — build those new facilities on what was the outside of the original building, yet it will still be accessible from the inside. It is the same concept.”

The company did not provide KU with any drawings for the proposed suites.

“It is a plan you look at and yes, you say, ‘Wow,”’ Konzem said. “It is impressive that it’s possible, but it’s all very, very preliminary. We’ve got to do a lot more exploration, look at other ideas.”

One thing is certain: KU is not worried about Missouri’s new building.

“Remember, North Carolina built a new building several years ago and people thought Duke would build a new arena, but Duke kept the same building. Duke just dressed it up with improvements on the inside,” Bohl said. “We can make improvements without changing the aura of the best building for basketball in the country.”