Renovations to Memorial Field in State College could cost between $15 million and $17.7 million and increase seating capacity by 800 to 4,170 seats, according to several rough designs presented Tuesday evening.
Representatives from the design firm Palumbo-Skibinski Crawford introduced the concepts to about 50 people who gathered for a community discussion at Mount Nittany Middle School. Residents peppered the firm with more than 15 questions but appeared generally supportive of a Memorial Field overhaul.
‘Everyone recognizes that the facility is unique. …. Everybody likes the fact that there is intimacy’ there, said Stacey Jones, a representative from the design firm. The State College Area school board has hired the group to create renovation options for the downtown stadium — with input from the community.
An initial brainstorming session held June 7 generated an array of community feedback, including people’s likes, dislikes and suggestions concerning the Depression-era facility at South Fraser Street and West Nittany Avenue. Palumbo-Skibinski Crawford used that input to help develop the three renovation options presented Tuesday evening.
Here’s a rundown:
- Scheme One: This option, likely the least expensive of the bunch, would involve the demolition of the adjacent school-district administration building, 131 W. Nittany Ave. A new grandstand structure, centered on the 50-yard line, would be built on the east side of the stadium, complete with restrooms, concession areas and locker rooms beneath the stands. The west-side bleachers — some of which are failing already — would be overhauled, as well. The total estimated cost would be nearly $15 million, and it would increase seating capacity from the current 4,000-or-so to 5,670, according to the presentation.
- Scheme Two: This option would keep the administration building intact and convert it for another, non-administrative use. A new east-side grandstand structure with locker rooms, bathrooms and concession areas would be constructed, though the presence of the administration building would prevent it from being precisely centered on the 50-yard line. New west-side bleachers would be incorporated, as well. The estimated cost would be $16.9 million, including about $4 million for the renovation of the administration building. (Some school-board members have noted, however, that the building-renovation cost could be avoided, bringing the cost closer to $12.9 million.) Seating capacity would grow to 4,800.
- Scheme Three: This option is the most large-scale of the three. It would involve the demolition of the administration building — and the purchase and demolition of an adjacent apartment building east of Memorial Field. The extra space would allow the field to be recentered and sideline space to be expanded. A walkway inside the stadium would connect the east- and west-side bleachers at the south end. New bleacher structures, locker rooms and concession areas would be constructed, and room would be left for additional expansion in the future. Total costs would be estimated at $17.7 million; total seating would reach 8,170.
All of the schemes include several key features, such as the addition of bathrooms and built-in concession areas on the west side of the stadium. They also call for a new stormwater-retention set-up, likely with some kind of underground vault to slow the flow of rainwater into an on-site sinkhole and prevent field flooding in the process.
Designers suggested that the field-flooding issue be addressed first, before any other improvements are made to the stadium.
Tom Skibinki, a partner in Palumbo-Skibinski Crawford, acknowledged that continued reliance on the sinkhole for drainage would contain ‘a degree of risk.’ That’s because something could happen ‘locally or downstream (underground). … Suddenly, the sinkhole may not function.’
But Skibinski also noted that the sinkhole has been draining the area for decades. His firm’s concepts ‘would not disturb it,’ but instead would improve the cleanliness of the runoff going into the sinkhole and attempt to maintain the natural limestone structure.
As the school board moves forward, it will hold public conversations about the design options and the community’s ongoing suggestions over the next several months, said Ed Poprik. He is the district’s director of physical plant.
Board member Chris Small, after the Tuesday gathering, said improvements at Memorial Field could be phased in over a period of time. ‘We have a lot of other demands on the budget,’ he said.
He and Dorothea Stahl, another board member, said they hoped the board can make a decision by December concerning how best to proceed with the project. Stahl said the district will be gauging people’s interest in making private donations to defray the cost to the general public.
‘We squeezed all the life we can from the stadium,’ Small said, noting that more than 300 west-side seats there are unusable right now because of safety concerns. ‘It’s beyond its life.’
Likewise, Stahl said Memorial Field — in its current condition — is ‘woefully inadequate’ for the programs that use it now. It’s used for a wide variety of both athletic and non-athletic community functions.
‘We all recognize that it has to be done,’ board Vice President Jim Pawelczyk said of a stadium overhaul.
Building a new facility elsewhere — instead of fixing up Memorial Field — would inevitably be more expensive, Pawelczyk said. The board has effectively ruled out that option.
Images and other details from the Tuesday presentation are expected to be posted soon on the school district’s website, www.scasd.org.
Earlier coverage
