The University is putting its stalled basketball arena project back in motion after raising more than $1 million during the summer to pay for schematic designs.
The move, coupled with the University’s purchase of the Williams’ Bakery property and the University of Oregon Foundation’s purchase of the vacant Joe Romania car lot, shows potential donors that the University is still making progress on the arena project, University Athletic Director Bill Moos said on Monday.
The Williams’ Bakery property is the selected site for the arena, and University officials say the Romania property could serve as a parking lot.
“When you’re asking and cultivating people for gifts of sizable amounts it’s important that they understand that we have a great deal of skin in the game, and I think we’re showing that,” Moos said.
The project was put on hold in the spring because of funding shortfalls.
Donors gave more than $1.3 million over the summer to the project – money that Moos said was used as a payment to the architecture firms Ellerbe Becket and Thompson, Vaivoda and Associates Architects, Inc. to continue the design process.
“The best way, in our opinion, to continue the project along was to raise the money right now – which we’ve done – to keep the design phase going,” Moos said.
Entering the schematic design phase does not mean arena construction will soon follow because a significant amount of money still needs to be raised, Vice President for University Advancement Allan Price said.
“I think a lot of people think we know we’re doing an arena and we’re just being cautious, but that’s not the case,” Price said. “This decision to go forward with the design is not a decision to go forward with the arena.”
Moos estimates the design phase will take about four or five months. Actual design has not begun; the firms are discussing the technicalities of the arena with athletic department representatives, Moos said.
“We need to get back at the table and put our game plan together,” Moos said. “That should happen in the next week or so.”
The Williams’ Bakery property will not be ready for University use until 2007, Moos said, making 2009 a likely opening date.
“A rule of thumb is a year to design and two years to construct,” Moos said. “It has the potential to be a very, very large project.”
The University has estimated the cost of building the arena to be as much as a $180 million. All the money will have to be privately raised or taken in the form of bank bonds by National Championship Properties, a subsidiary of the UO Foundation. NCP would repay the bank bonds by taking a portion of ticket sales at the new arena.
“It is beyond our reach, in my mind, to raise that much money,” Moos said about the need for NCP to take out bonds.
Once the design process is under way architects will be able to determine the options for design and the cost of each one, Moos said.
Bob Thompson, a University graduate and design principal for TVA Architects, said his firm is designing the building, concourses and other interior spaces, while Ellerbe Becket is designing the basketball court and locker rooms.
The size and scope of the project is entirely dependent on fundraising efforts, Moos said.
Moos is hopeful Nike founder and University graduate Phil Knight and his wife, Penny, will contribute to the arena project and said if the arena were to cost $160 million or more, “we’d probably need Phil’s help.”
“At this point, there’s no guarantee that that is going to happen, so we’re cultivating other donors that we would need regardless of the Knight donation, if there is one,” Moos said.
Because raising the needed funds could take some time, Moos said, the architects will be exploring the possibility of building the arena and its amenities, which include an indoor practice facility and a new athletic learning center, in two phases.
Donors who gave during the summer to restart the design phase were aware of the fact that an arena is not definite and still depends on funding factors, Moos said.
“We’re going to get to some juncture where we’re going to have to decide if we halt it completely or we scale down or we shoot for the moon,” Moos said. “And that’s good; at least we’re making progress.”
University officials have said property around the Williams’ Bakery site must be purchased for arena construction to begin. The University has not had contact with the owners of those properties, Moos said, and the architects are exploring whether it’s possible to contain the first phase of the project on the Williams’ Bakery site.
A completed design can show what other properties need to be acquired, Thompson and Price said.
“We have a lot of alumni working on the project, so there’s a strong emotional attachment to making sure we succeed,” Thompson said.

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