Jake

Although I agree wholeheartedly, it probably won't happen. They have plans to remodel the interior of Bierce, which I think is stupid. By the time CH is free game, couldn't we get the money for a new library? Bierce is eh..Bierce is only 38 years old. And I agree that universities show their true worth by what they put into their libraries. It's a major selling point for student recrutment. You can always tell how serious a university is about its academics by how elaborate and user friendly their libraries are. But that's fodder for another thread, I guess.When Bierce was first built, it was intended to have a phase 2 which never came about.

I think Memorial Hall can play a role in this. Right now, Memeorial Hall is slated for demolition by UA so it can build a new College of Education Building on its footprint. It will have somewhat of a twin architecture with the east end of the student union that will face it. Plans are to make the Education Building's west side mimmic the slope appearnace of the student union's east side.Here are my thoughts regarding Memorial hall's role in a new on-campus arena: Postpone its demolition and the construction of the new education building. Put back the bleacher section that was once in its south end. Once a basketball season has ended, prepare Memorial Hall to be the temporary site for Zips basketball again come the following season. In the mean time, evacuate the JAR for some major rennovations. Start by blowing out the JAR's east wall and add to it sufficiently enough for a large (10,000 - 12,000) multi-purpose arena that can host everything from basketball games to major concerts. The UA campus was once a very successful site for some great rock and roll concert by major national and international acts. We used Belkin Productions ( today known as "Live Nation" which E.J. Thomas uses for small hall concerts like Lisa Lampanelli, etc). The JAR renovations would involve recentering the court so that it is exactly in the middle of an oval or rectangular seating area that totally surounds it. Get rid of the track on the second level. Create a true concert hall ceiling that in no way resembles a gymnasium ceiling. Get rid of all the JAR's bleachers. Use them in a bon fire for homecomming if you wish. Replace all bleachers with upholstered theater seats like the ones in UA's E.J. Thomas Hall. And, run those seats nearer to the JARS new ceiling. The seating area can take full advantage of the perameters of the building walls with lobbies running underneath the seating area (just like the grand tier and flying balcony seats do in Thomas Hall)The interior of the new arena will look just like a large theater in the round only with an adaptable basketball court in the middle. While this is going on, Memorial Hall would accomodate somewhere around 2,600 fans for hopefull only one basketball season. It's a temporary bullet worth biting for the sake of a state-of-the-art, multi-purpose and truly on-campus arena. Once the new arena is completed, it should be rededicated to its offical name: "The University of Akron Pavillion" Once the new arena is completed, tear down Memorial Hall and begin building the new education building.Another site is the area east of the stadium. I've measured the footprint and while its north and south parameters are as wide as, if not a little wider than the JAR's north and south side parameters. The footprint's east and west sides are much much longer than the east and west sides of the JAR's parameters. This will certainly place a multi-purpose arena clearly on the campus and it will have a handsome integrated look right next to an on-campus, muti-purpose stadium, a campus field house and student rec center, a campus Natatorium a smaller arena, an undisturbed "Greek Village" and multi-plex, state-of-the-art UA Student Housing facility. It will also be exposed to the region and not just downtown by being next to Rt 8 with entry and exit ramps practically in the arena's back yard and will still have a high profile to the greater Akron Community by facing East Exchange just like the stadium. Again, as with the rennovated JAR idea, seating (not bleachers) should take advantage of the full parameters of the building with lobbies running underneath.

You're right. It is a no brainer. Plenty of room for a large multi-pupose arena for events from basketball to concerts. A college campus is a far superior place to have concerts than downtown.Now, if we can some how talk APS into giving it up as a swing school, so UA can have it now instead of nine years from now.

great location...unfortunately UA has promised Manny Nemer it wouldn't mess with his new location (eminent domain) for 14 years. Then again, that doesn't mean UA can't offer him a deal that's too sweet to refuse.

I'm sorry if you have problems with comprehension. I'll try to come down to your level. The campus having clear boundaries which include having an on-campus and not a downtown arena does not prevent students from enjoying downtown. Nor does it prevent downtown from enjoying students. Your contention is a false one.You make it sound as though I am advocating the destruction of downtown. And please try to not make your opinions into attacking another poster. I see what you are doing though. You start to lose the intellectual argument so you shift the discussion into a petty attack of how I need to use the edit button. I'll post the way I see fit. Now do try and stay on topic without getting so childish and defensiveNow I want you to calm down and think real hard. You seem to be enjoying downtown bars and nightlife already. As you stated the campus and downtown are very close and that downtown provides the best nightlife for students currently. I have never said I have a problem with this. Your version of my thinking does, but that's what happens when you put words in other people's mouths which happens often on this site more so than Ohio.com. ..again the tell tale signs of dishonesty. Sounds to me like students are going downtown already and that downtown is enjoying students already. Currently, there is no UA arena downtown. So, building one on campus does not do one thing to interrupt this already happening experience. Does Can't State feel the need to buid its facilities in downtown Can't so that Can't State students can enjoy the Can't bars? Surprise, they don't need to have Can't State build in downtown Can't in order for the students to enjoy an off-campus venue. The same goes for The University of Akron. This whole "entertainment district" malarky is just a ruse to get UA to foot the bill for a downtown arena that the mayor has always lusted after and the voters are against. An on-campus arena will allow audience members to get a good look at UA's beautiful campus and therefore serve as a recruitment strategy for increased enrollments. Not so in downtown. Unless you think people are going to say, "Oh look Henry, there's the beautiful and stunning Polsky Building and parking deck, let's send our children to UA. I'm quite impressed with this beautiful campus with its one building that is a repurposed department store and its parking deck. And, don't you just love all the concrete and traffic on this campus. It's quite impressive without grass, trees and the lack of a park-like setting." While people may go to see a game or concert at a downtown arena. Once the event is over, they may take in a night spot and then they will get in their cars and go home and see nothing of UA's attractive campus. What a waste of money it would be if UA puts an arena downtown.I see where the moderator of Zipsnation.org has set it up where a poster cannot spell the name of our rival university several miles to the east without the spelling being changed to "Can't State". Congratulations, this site has outdone Ohio.com in the immaturity department.

I'm sorry if you have problems with comprehension. I'll try to come down to your level. The campus having clear boundaries which include having an on-campus and not a downtown arena does not prevent students from enjoying downtown. Nor does it prevent downtown from enjoying students. Your contention is a false one.You make it sound as though I am advocating the destruction of downtown. And please try to not make your opinions into attacking another poster. I see what you are doing though. You start to lose the intellectual argument so you shift the discussion into a petty attack of how I need to use the edit button. I'll post the way I see fit. Now do try and stay on topic without getting so childish and defensiveNow I want you to calm down and think real hard. You seem to be enjoying downtown bars and nightlife already. As you stated the campus and downtown are very close and that downtown provides the best nightlife for students currently. I have never said I have a problem with this. Your version of my thinking does, but that's what happens when you put words in other people's mouths which happens often on this site more so than Ohio.com. ..again the tell tale signs of dishonesty. Sounds to me like students are going downtown already and that downtown is enjoying students already. Currently, there is no UA arena downtown. So, building one on campus does not do one thing to interrupt this already happening experience. Does Can't State feel the need to buid its facilities in downtown Can't so that Can't State students can enjoy the Can't bars? Surprise, they don't need to have Can't State build in downtown Can't in order for the students to enjoy an off-campus venue. The same goes for The University of Akron. This whole "entertainment district" malarky is just a ruse to get UA to foot the bill for a downtown arena that the mayor has always lusted after and the voters are against. An on-campus arena will allow audience members to get a good look at UA's beautiful campus and therefore serve as a recruitment strategy for increased enrollments. Not so in downtown. Unless you think people are going to say, "Oh look Henry, there's the beautiful and stunning Polsky Building and parking deck, let's send our children to UA. I'm quite impressed with this beautiful campus with its one building that is a repurposed department store and its parking deck. And, don't you just love all the concrete and traffic on this campus. It's quite impressive without grass, trees and the lack of a park-like setting." While people may go to see a game or concert at a downtown arena. Once the event is over, they may take in a night spot and then they will get in their cars and go home and see nothing of UA's attractive campus. What a waste of money it would be if UA puts an arena downtown.

It's not about distance. It is about perception. This concept is exactly why UA built a campus stadium instead of a downtown stadium. And people do lie on this blog. And you can count me in on wanting to see what is best for the university and the ENTIRE city of Akron, including downtown.

I fail to see your point. What makes you think that it is the UA's job to get students to go downtown? And, what makes you think that UA staying UA and having healthy visual boundaries doens't already bring students downtown? UA is here to support Northern Ohio and the ENTIRE Akron community. To be obsessed with "downtown Akron" is parochial and narrow. It is no university's purpose to directly enhance a downtown region at the expense of its mission. Broaden your horizons and stop thinking micro downtown Akron.

A symbiotic relationship has always been seen as a sick/co-dependent relationship. It accomplishes nothing but doom. UA needs to be distinct from downtown and downtown needs to be distinct from UA. This is the hallmark of functional entities. Otherwise, both entities look cheap and tawdry. Each needs to stand on its own integrity and not fool the population into believing one is the other. We don't need either entity to be propped up by a shell game. Ohio Sate is smack in the middle of Columbus and anyone who can see will tell you they know what, where and who is The Ohio State University. If UA wants to be taken seriously, then it should not be enmeshed or confused with downtown Akron. If downtown Akron wants to be taken seriously, it should not be enmeshed or confused with the UA campus. Riding on coat tails is the hallmark of a Hooterville-like community that was once UA and the city of Akron. We need those days to stay in the past. One of the trustees at UA stated that the problem with the campus is that people do not know where it starts and where it ends and that statement kicked off "the landscape for learning" at UA which transformed the campus into a real university with real boundaries that tell the entire community and region (and not just downtown) "welcome, this is where you are." A downtown arena will take this effort backward. Let UA be UA and downtown be downtown and screw the Polsky Building and your contrived perception of what this blog is all about. This blog is a means to an end and not an end in itself. Get over your blog!!!

The Quaker Square deal is off the table since UA has decided to run a hotel for the city indefinitely instead of for two years. Included in that former deal was to build an arena downtown. So, that is off the table too. Again, there is plenty of room for legitimate campus expansion for an on-campus arena east of InfoCision, south of Jackson Field and already established campus property. North of Mill Street is also feasible but UA must make that area unified and connected to the REAL campus in a very visual and unarguable way. Also, another option would be to make major renovations and an expansion of Rhodes Arena that would truly make it a multi-purpose, state-of-the-art arena. The project can begin immediately following the basketball season and would likely go into the next season totally or partially. Until it is completed, UA can have its games in Memorial Hall. They can open up the back end that was once filled with bleachers and hold off on its demolition and construction of a new College of Education Building on the footprint until a rededicated, enlarged and enhanced Rhodes Arena is completed. It makes economic sense and keeps all of UA's athletic, physical education and recreation facilities in one unified campus location. As I said, there are a lot of campus locations for a new arena. We don't need to nor should we go downtown which will always bee seen as OFF-CAMPUS. Screw The Polsky Building!

I could just as easily accuse you of lying, telling me I have a circle of bad mouthers. Please stop with your dishonest crap it's really quite annoying.I am suggesting that perhaps we should take advantage of potential partnerships when beneficial. Your views seem to be focused internally, which would thus seem to increase the distance between community and school. I too think the campus should overflow with pride. Why can't it do that with a shiny new basketball arena two minutes downtown and in the center of the nightlife?I said MAYBE in your circle... Go ahead and accuse me of lying. It would be just another one of your many lies

I agree, but I don't see it happening for awhile. I'm a believer that if the team performs well, fans will show up no matter where the arena is. I think if one wants an arena soon, downtown is the best bet. For an ideal location closer to the heart of campus, we should buckle down in the JAR and wait for it to show up.I don't have my crystal ball handy...Where the arena is located has a great deal to do with its support. A downtown arena will discourage UA students from coming. An on-campus arena will encourage students to attend. Why do you think UA built a stadium on campus when it could have built it downtown as the mayor demanded?

I'll keep my advise to just one. Stop being afraid of using/printing "The University of Akron" in your ads for InfoCision. Even the stadium logo excludes the word "University" Redo the Zip flag and other vehicles of advertising to include the full name of our University of Akron. The implication with "Akron Zips" is not good enough.

I'm sorry, but are you serious? So Coach Dambrot supports UA moving backwards? People who donate thousands of dollars do as well? That would be like saying one who is not in support of war wants the enemy to win. Perhaps, but do you think they distance themselves from the community as well? That would hardly show class in my opinion. I feel that the two really go hand in hand. Think of all the benefits a prosperous community has for students: Comfort, safety, job incentives, entertainment, a place to showcase their talents, etc...With all the bad-mouthing I hear from the immediate community, shouldn't the University want to reach out and show was it stands for? Really... a successful school wouldn't do that?That said I see some of you points on wanting to bring the community to campus. Why not engage in some friendly discussion instead of calling people liars?exactly, walls are not boundaries. UA should work beyond the "walls" of campus and touch lives around the community. Sorry but I call a spade a spade and you are being dishonest by twisting words. UA does not have walls. It has boundaries. Having said that, UA reaches out to the community all the time and UA is not distancing itself from the community by having integrity and its own campus You are making crap up and that makes you dishonest.It makes me dishonest to disagree with you? Wouldn't it look bad to turn away a chance to work with the city, saving some money/time just so we can "have integrity and" our "own campus". I am definitely not putting words in your mouth I'm stating how I feel. Why is that so hard for you to understand???Yes, I realize UA reaches out to the community all the time and I think it should continue to do so. Why can't both things happen?Not every college needs a stadium within the walls or boundaries or whatever fence you are referring to.Disagreeing with me does not make you dishonest. Telling lies and making up crap does make you dishonest, like you just did by equating disagreeing with lying. It seems like it's just in your nature to be disengenuous. You are also dishonest when your contention is for UA to build an arena downtown for philosphical reasons and then switch the contention to "there is no room on campus for an arena" when you see that you are losing the argument over your first contention. God, are you blatently dishonest. And perhaps not every college needs a stadium on campus, but UA does and has and it needs an arena on campus because universities with prestige keep their campuses self contained with boundaries and not walls. And, I urge you to show me how UA distances itself from the rest of the community or that I advocated such a thing. That was your dishonest accusation. Now back it up.And maybe in your circle people bad mouth UA but those individuals are ignorant about UA and will bad mouth Christ himself. UA should not pander to these people by subverting its mission and contaminating its vision. The people who have the ignorance to hate a fine institution like UA hate everything including themselves. They are to be ignored and not catered to.

I'm all for expanding the campus footprint but only in areas where it is feasable to make the expansion LOOK LIKE part of the campus, such as the new stadium. There is plenty of expansion possibilities across Jackson Field south of exchange where the university now owns parts of the area and plans on owning more of it. Expanding into the downtown area can not transform downtown into a campus. There is too much traffic (the nature of all downtowns) and cannot be made to look or be pedestrain friendly

I'm sorry, but are you serious? So Coach Dambrot supports UA moving backwards? People who donate thousands of dollars do as well? That would be like saying one who is not in support of war wants the enemy to win. Perhaps, but do you think they distance themselves from the community as well? That would hardly show class in my opinion. I feel that the two really go hand in hand. Think of all the benefits a prosperous community has for students: Comfort, safety, job incentives, entertainment, a place to showcase their talents, etc...With all the bad-mouthing I hear from the immediate community, shouldn't the University want to reach out and show was it stands for? Really... a successful school wouldn't do that?exactly, walls are not boundaries. UA should work beyond the "walls" of campus and touch lives around the community. That said I see some of you points on wanting to bring the community to campus. Why not engage in some friendly discussion instead of calling people liars?Sorry but I call a spade a spade and you are being dishonest by twisting words. UA does not have walls. It has boundaries. Having said that, UA reaches out to the community all the time and UA is not distancing itself from the community by having physical integrity and its own campus You are making crap up and that makes you dishonest. Another example of your dishonesty is implying that I said that Dambrot wants to move UA backwards. No he doesn't. Word has it that he supports an on-campus arena and not a downtown arena. And as far as agreements go, part of the agreement to build a downtown arena included UA owning and running a hotel for two years for the city (The Quaker Inn at The University of Akron). Guess what? That agreement went poof along with the stipulation to build a downtown arena. UA will now run a hotel for the city for the forseeable future and is now free to build the arena on its campus and not downtown.

Here are some other points made by the univeresity. Please note point 1 and 4:"1 Create a more user-friendly, safe, cohesive, and aesthetically appealing campus that will attract and retain students, faculty and staff, and serve as a symbol of pride for alumni. 2 Establish a framework for the future development of the campus that will guide the siting of capital projects and major landscape elements. 3 Identify and establish major open spaces with clearly defined and designed pedestrian connections between the buildings and open spaces. 4 Clarify and establish campus edges and character, including proposals for points of campus entry through portals, campus signage, lighting and tree-lined paths of travel.Also, whoever made the claim that non-resident students are "pseudo-students" needs his head examined. When an area of land is not on campus and people try to spin that it currently is on campus makes the area pseudo-campus (ie false campus). Students who do not reside in campus housing are still students in every meaning of the word.

Now that is indeed a childish assessment of supporting a university's integrity. UA is just starting to look like a real campus and it needs to continue and not regress. Like it or not, those who support a downtown arena support UA moving backwards to the days of Akron U/Hilltop high. All universities with class and prestige make very clear their distinction from the rest of the community. Please do not confuse boundaries with walls.Also, don't confuse linking with morphing. Point 6 is nothing more than the concept of town and gown and it is not something unique to Akron. All universities have point 6 in their missions. It doesn't mean that the campus should fade into the woodwork.

Haha, this is nothing short of incredible.The truth hurts doesn't it?

No one is ignoring the campus proximity to downtown by insisting on a campus with integrity. They are not mutually exclusive.

There is no such agreement in existance.

Hmm... Spicer, Vine, Goodkirk, and ExchangeNow, the corner of Spicer and Exchange is the Skyway Restaurant site. The block between Vine and Nash is mostly off campus housing and Fraternity/Sorority sites. If you build there, where do they go? Yeah that's right, they have to be relocated. But yes, I'm dishonest. Yes, you are dishonest because you implied that I supported relocating fraternities and sororities and I do not. Those house can stay and coexist with a new arena just fine. Now stop the immature dishonesty.

From the downtown akron web page - Downtown is not on campus and campus is not downtown -"StudentsIf you’re looking to get off campus and discover Akron, Downtown is the place to start. Downtown puts you in the center of many different cultural amenities, living opportunities, delicious dining options and so much more. With the expansion of the Roo Express route you can travel to and from campus in seconds. Take a walk or ride your bike and arrive in minutes. Once you’re Downtown, put your Zip Card to use by stopping in one of these local restaurants or retail establishments that accept the card....22 ExchangeThese brand new student living apartments are only a quarter mile from the University of Akron campus and located in the heart of Downtown Akron's entertainment district. Cutting edge amenities and inclusive utilities make 22 Exchange the place to be. Apartments are being leased now for August 2009 occupancy.

Exactly, and that same setup cannot apply to the downtown area, without making the arena look like a City of Akron arena instead of a University of Akron campus arena. Unless we want to perpetuate the E.J. Thomas syndrome

I do too, but keep in mind you have a RR track there.