Location of Arena

[UADavid]

What do Zipsnation members think? This is the ideal location, no holds barred.

[GP1]

The parking lot next to the JAR where the coaches currently park OR SE corner of Spicer and Carrol. Easy access to Rt.8 always a plus.

[RowdyZip]

Knock out the Plasma Center. Two birds with one stone...Oh wait, wasn't there where the Nemers bought new property facing Brown St on the block?

[ZachTheZip]

Knock out the Plasma Center. Two birds with one stone...Oh wait, wasn't there where the Nemers bought new property facing Brown St on the block?

Yep. The Nemers will be moving in right behind the plasma center on Brown.I still think that putting it where the administration building, polymer training center, and Roadway building are located is the best idea.

[Let'sGoZips94]

I say build it in Memorial's/JAR's place; keep everything on campus, make it look like a TRUE college campus. If you want to make it bigger and use it for more things, place it somewhere with space, but keep it still close to campus. Just my $0.02.

[Buckzip]

Central Hower. On Campus and central.

[Dave in Green]

I can't answer the question without knowing more specific parameters. If it's to be primarily a basketball facility, it would probably be better somewhere on campus. If it's to be a multi-purpose facility, also hosting concerts, I think it might be better right on the border of the campus and downtown.

[roodog97]

My answer largely depends upon who is paying. If the city will contribe a substantial amount of money towards a downtown arena, then I can support a downtown arena.

[Valpo Zip]

Central Hower is a no-brainer. In the heart of campus.

[ksu sucks]

Yeah I'd love to see Central Hower as well. I really hope that UA and APS can somehow make it happen.

[ziptrumpet87]

I like S of Exchange (Plasma site). Keeps all the athletic stuff in same location, access to 8 for N and S traffic and E and W on Exchange. Just have to have someone as an intermediate purchaser of Nemer's place

[akronad]

Yeah I'd love to see Central Hower as well. I really hope that UA and APS can somehow make it happen.

I'm sure it will happen, but not for at least another 8-10 yrs. It is and will continue to be used as a swing space bldg. during renovations to the other high schools.

[UADavid]

I can't answer the question without knowing more specific parameters. If it's to be primarily a basketball facility, it would probably be better somewhere on campus. If it's to be a multi-purpose facility, also hosting concerts, I think it might be better right on the border of the campus and downtown.

At the time the JAR was built, they tried to put too many eggs in one basket and got a building that was inadequate in all aspects from offices to seats to classrooms. For the cost a facility like this will command, I think we can assume it will be a multi-use facility. The building will need to be used often so good programming for the venue is essential. I hope we're far enough away from the Q to not clash for events. UA couldn't program EJ and The Civic properly so I believe it needs to be a separate group. I think we can also assume that if we need assistance from the city, the facility will need to be on the polsky side of campus. Summit County could also consider the facility a county-wide asset and assist in building. The county might want to push such a building closer to the Knight Convention Center (Quaker Square). At that location UA could maximize the hotel with the arena next door. Does that location have room for an arena and parking? There might be better locations no one has mentioned yet. My preferred location would be the Central-Hower site. It would help by getting high-schoolers off the campus and out of the student union where there have been altercations, and transform the North side of campus. I think we could also have a great parking situation there with the North Deck and large footprint for parking on site. The two obstacles I see for this location are APS(big obstacle) and money. I don't think that UA will be able to finance an arena without the city or county. Are there any more big donors that could make this happen?Be creative, have fun with it and tell us where you would like to see any future arena located.

[UADavid]

I like S of Exchange (Plasma site). Keeps all the athletic stuff in same location, access to 8 for N and S traffic and E and W on Exchange. Just have to have someone as an intermediate purchaser of Nemer's place

No access to 8S and 77S from exchange and getting to Goodkirk to access the ramp would be troublesome. I like the location too but Manny's would be in section 203 on the scorers table side.

[Zip Watcher]

Put me down for UA signing a long term lease and operating agreement at a multipurpose downtown arena built by the city / county / port authority. The Don Dome? Plusquelic Pavilion?Continue the ongoing efforts to improve the (backend of the) JAR to make it a 1st class training facility for both men's & women's hoops. Remains the playing venue for Volleyball. Add gymnastics if needed to get to be fully title IX compliant. W/ fewer events in the JAR, the facility might be able to support that.

[Quickzips]

Put me down for the Memorial Hall site. Memorial is falling apart and needs to be torn down soon anyways. Plus the idea of driving down Exchange St., looking to my left and seeing a brand new state of the art arena, the jewel of MAC football Info. and the still beautiful and top of the line practice facility and rec center is enough to run chills down my spine.I'm also intrigued by the idea of the Plasma Center site. Getting rid of that embarrasment of urban decay would be enough of a pleasure but getting to stick it to the Nemers again in the process would just be icing on the cake. I can imagine the coronary Manny and Joe would have when the U comes calling to knock down whatever second rate, hole in the wall establishment they are planning to put up there.

[ZachTheZip]

The REC Center parking lot won't be replaced. It's far too profitable as a premium parking lot for both the JAR and the Info.The Kaiser building location is being renovated, and while I think UA owns a good chink of that block already as a parking lot, I don't think they'll be able to take over the whole block or the Mayflower.Central Hower isn't being handed over to UA any time soon. It's still being used as a spare high school for the forseeable future.The only feasible place for an arena south of Exchange is on the old softball field. While this would place it near the rest of the athletic facilities, I would prefer the neighborhood to go through a major renovation so no to scare away the fans.Memorial Hall is being torn down and replaced with a new college of Education building. It will fit into the Landscape for Learning stuff going on in that area.East of campus is one of two areas: on top of the planned Greek Village and Skyway, or across Route 8. The other side of Route 8 feels off-campus even more than downtown does.The Downtown economic area is bigger than what people think. There's the large wasted grass area between Market and Perkins that is still considered downtown, and it might work as an arena site, but only if the campus expands north a bit more first.There is the square of grass on he corner of Buchtel and Spicer is possibly enough room to build an arena, but only if it is a pure arena without offices and classrooms taking up precious space.

[72 Roo]

Put me down as someone who would love to put it on the Central Hower property. But it ain't gonna' happen. The university is committed to something with the city. I have talked to several senior administrators, VP level, and they say that a partnership with the city is a done deal. First Energy has said they will pay for the naming rights. The bond rating for the university is lower than the board of trustees is comfortable and a partnership is the only way it will get build. That also is why the new education building hasn't been started or the Coleman commons completed. They are worried about finances.Many on this thread have said APS would not give up C-H for quite a while and they are right on. APS needs that building for another 10 years at least. What we should be most concerned with is that the city wants to build a facility with 8,000 seats. KD is opposeed to that and wants a minimum of 10,000. The city wants to keep costs down and have a venue that presents well for high school basketball, ECHL hockey, graduations, small concerts and also UA BBall. My biggest concern is not over location, although I'd love to see it on campus at C-H and would be willing to wait to get it, but rather the small size of the building. We would have the JAR, part II.BTW . Haven't said that in a while.

[Dave in Green]

I can't answer the question without knowing more specific parameters. If it's to be primarily a basketball facility, it would probably be better somewhere on campus. If it's to be a multi-purpose facility, also hosting concerts, I think it might be better right on the border of the campus and downtown.

At the time the JAR was built, they tried to put too many eggs in one basket and got a building that was inadequate in all aspects from offices to seats to classrooms. For the cost a facility like this will command, I think we can assume it will be a multi-use facility. The building will need to be used often so good programming for the venue is essential. I hope we're far enough away from the Q to not clash for events. UA couldn't program EJ and The Civic properly so I believe it needs to be a separate group. I think we can also assume that if we need assistance from the city, the facility will need to be on the polsky side of campus. Summit County could also consider the facility a county-wide asset and assist in building. The county might want to push such a building closer to the Knight Convention Center (Quaker Square). At that location UA could maximize the hotel with the arena next door. Does that location have room for an arena and parking? There might be better locations no one has mentioned yet. My preferred location would be the Central-Hower site. It would help by getting high-schoolers off the campus and out of the student union where there have been altercations, and transform the North side of campus. I think we could also have a great parking situation there with the North Deck and large footprint for parking on site. The two obstacles I see for this location are APS(big obstacle) and money. I don't think that UA will be able to finance an arena without the city or county. Are there any more big donors that could make this happen?Be creative, have fun with it and tell us where you would like to see any future arena located.

OK, my personal preference is to have a first class multipurpose facility because I would be a customer for both basketball games and concerts. For at least some of those events, I'd want to combine the experience with dinner at one of Akron's downtown restaurants, as I do when I attend a concert at the Q and have dinner in Cleveland. So ideally any new multipurpose facility would be reasonably close to good parking and good restaurants.I also believe that having lots of enthusiastic students in attendance is a key part of the college basketball experience. So I would not favor an off-campus location more than a couple of blocks from campus that would discourage students from attending. That pretty much defines an area east of Main between Market and Exchange.If it's closer to Market than Exchange, it would be far enough from the downtown restaurants I frequent that I'd probably end up having to get in the car and drive anyway, especially in the middle of the winter if my wife was with me. So there'd be no big advantage to me over the current JAR location in terms of having to drive between dinner and an event.But it does appear from looking at satellite images of downtown Akron that the area just northeast across the street (Mill) from the Knight Convention Center just might have room for a 10,000-seat facility and parking deck that could serve both venues. This just might be the best location in terms of getting full support from UA, the city and the county. I don't think there is any "perfect" location that will please all the people all the time. But this appears to me right now to be the best compromise location of any mentioned so far for a downtown multipurpose facility that would be convenient to campus. So I could support this location as long as no one comes up with any major negatives.

[UADavid]

I just drove down Exchange St several times looking at the plasma site. While it fits the topic where would you like to see an arena, the site is too small. We have agreements with the Odd Corner and Mannys to keep out of their way. They are on either side of that corner lot. I think Mannys is 15 years and Odd Corner for as long as he's there. Bring back The Townhouse and the pizza place past the bar in back!The poll was more for where you'd like to have it than where it could be built.

[UADavid]

I can't answer the question without knowing more specific parameters. If it's to be primarily a basketball facility, it would probably be better somewhere on campus. If it's to be a multi-purpose facility, also hosting concerts, I think it might be better right on the border of the campus and downtown.

At the time the JAR was built, they tried to put too many eggs in one basket and got a building that was inadequate in all aspects from offices to seats to classrooms. For the cost a facility like this will command, I think we can assume it will be a multi-use facility. The building will need to be used often so good programming for the venue is essential. I hope we're far enough away from the Q to not clash for events. UA couldn't program EJ and The Civic properly so I believe it needs to be a separate group. I think we can also assume that if we need assistance from the city, the facility will need to be on the polsky side of campus. Summit County could also consider the facility a county-wide asset and assist in building. The county might want to push such a building closer to the Knight Convention Center (Quaker Square). At that location UA could maximize the hotel with the arena next door. Does that location have room for an arena and parking? There might be better locations no one has mentioned yet. My preferred location would be the Central-Hower site. It would help by getting high-schoolers off the campus and out of the student union where there have been altercations, and transform the North side of campus. I think we could also have a great parking situation there with the North Deck and large footprint for parking on site. The two obstacles I see for this location are APS(big obstacle) and money. I don't think that UA will be able to finance an arena without the city or county. Are there any more big donors that could make this happen?Be creative, have fun with it and tell us where you would like to see any future arena located.

OK, my personal preference is to have a first class multipurpose facility because I would be a customer for both basketball games and concerts. For at least some of those events, I'd want to combine the experience with dinner at one of Akron's downtown restaurants, as I do when I attend a concert at the Q and have dinner in Cleveland. So ideally any new multipurpose facility would be reasonably close to good parking and good restaurants.I also believe that having lots of enthusiastic students in attendance is a key part of the college basketball experience. So I would not favor an off-campus location more than a couple of blocks from campus that would discourage students from attending. That pretty much defines an area east of Main between Market and Exchange.If it's closer to Market than Exchange, it would be far enough from the downtown restaurants I frequent that I'd probably end up having to get in the car and drive anyway, especially in the middle of the winter if my wife was with me. So there'd be no big advantage to me over the current JAR location in terms of having to drive between dinner and an event.But it does appear from looking at satellite images of downtown Akron that the area just northeast across the street (Mill) from the Knight Convention Center just might have room for a 10,000-seat facility and parking deck that could serve both venues. This just might be the best location in terms of getting full support from UA, the city and the county. I don't think there is any "perfect" location that will please all the people all the time. But this appears to me right now to be the best compromise location of any mentioned so far for a downtown multipurpose facility that would be convenient to campus. So I could support this location as long as no one comes up with any major negatives.

The Knight Convention Center could go after larger groups if they could add the floor space of a nearby arena. UA, city and county package would be the most cost effective and likely quickest way for any arena to be built. It is a close and realistic location for any proposed arena.

[Blue & Gold]

The Kaiser building location is being renovated, and while I think UA owns a good chink of that block already as a parking lot, I don't think they'll be able to take over the whole block or the Mayflower.

Downtown desperately needs UA to take control of the Mayflower and turn it into student dorm space. I repeat, downtown desperately needs this. Lol.

[Blue & Gold]

I can't answer the question without knowing more specific parameters. If it's to be primarily a basketball facility, it would probably be better somewhere on campus. If it's to be a multi-purpose facility, also hosting concerts, I think it might be better right on the border of the campus and downtown.

At the time the JAR was built, they tried to put too many eggs in one basket and got a building that was inadequate in all aspects from offices to seats to classrooms. For the cost a facility like this will command, I think we can assume it will be a multi-use facility. The building will need to be used often so good programming for the venue is essential. I hope we're far enough away from the Q to not clash for events. UA couldn't program EJ and The Civic properly so I believe it needs to be a separate group. I think we can also assume that if we need assistance from the city, the facility will need to be on the polsky side of campus. Summit County could also consider the facility a county-wide asset and assist in building. The county might want to push such a building closer to the Knight Convention Center (Quaker Square). At that location UA could maximize the hotel with the arena next door. Does that location have room for an arena and parking? There might be better locations no one has mentioned yet. My preferred location would be the Central-Hower site. It would help by getting high-schoolers off the campus and out of the student union where there have been altercations, and transform the North side of campus. I think we could also have a great parking situation there with the North Deck and large footprint for parking on site. The two obstacles I see for this location are APS(big obstacle) and money. I don't think that UA will be able to finance an arena without the city or county. Are there any more big donors that could make this happen?Be creative, have fun with it and tell us where you would like to see any future arena located.

OK, my personal preference is to have a first class multipurpose facility because I would be a customer for both basketball games and concerts. For at least some of those events, I'd want to combine the experience with dinner at one of Akron's downtown restaurants, as I do when I attend a concert at the Q and have dinner in Cleveland. So ideally any new multipurpose facility would be reasonably close to good parking and good restaurants.I also believe that having lots of enthusiastic students in attendance is a key part of the college basketball experience. So I would not favor an off-campus location more than a couple of blocks from campus that would discourage students from attending. That pretty much defines an area east of Main between Market and Exchange.If it's closer to Market than Exchange, it would be far enough from the downtown restaurants I frequent that I'd probably end up having to get in the car and drive anyway, especially in the middle of the winter if my wife was with me. So there'd be no big advantage to me over the current JAR location in terms of having to drive between dinner and an event.But it does appear from looking at satellite images of downtown Akron that the area just northeast across the street (Mill) from the Knight Convention Center just might have room for a 10,000-seat facility and parking deck that could serve both venues. This just might be the best location in terms of getting full support from UA, the city and the county. I don't think there is any "perfect" location that will please all the people all the time. But this appears to me right now to be the best compromise location of any mentioned so far for a downtown multipurpose facility that would be convenient to campus. So I could support this location as long as no one comes up with any major negatives.

This is where I'm starting to lean as to where to place a new arena. It's close to downtown's Historic and Northside Districts and could work in cooperation with the JSKnight Convention Center. In another thread I had proposed shutting down Mill Street & knocking the bridge down between Quaker Square and the proposed sight. Let me clarify what I was thinking here - I don't think we should close Mill altogether, just from EAST of Broadway to WEST of College Street. If you look at that on MapQuest, it would really expand the campus footprint and make Quaker Square pedestrian friendly. (I still think Quaker Square has A LOT of potential. I'm glad to hear that UA is going to be operating a hotel there instead of turning it all into dorm space. I think UA should use at least 2 of the old restaurant spaces - Trackside Grill & Tavern on the Square - as operational restaurants managed by their culinary arts program.)

[Dave in Green]

I've just spent a lot of time examining this area using the Bird's Eye view in Bing Maps ( http://www.bing.com/maps ). Just go to the site, enter Akron, OH, as the location, zoom in on the area and go to the Bird's Eye option. This gives the closest, most detailed aerial view I've been able to find. There are even controls on the left side of the screen to change the direction from which you're looking at an area.In the other thread I questioned whether it would be feasible to eliminate the Mill Street bridge and close Mill Street between Lincoln and Summit Streets. On closer examination from the Bird's Eye view, I now think this is not such a bad idea. It really opens up the footprint for a major facility in this area, and shifting traffic to Market Street does not appear to be such a problem. Ironically, in the Bird's Eye view photos, there is virtually no traffic to be seen on Mill Street! Now I know this isn't always the case. But it would be no problem to route Mill Street through traffic to Market Street via College and Summit Streets. Heading east on Mill Street takes you to Market in a few blocks, anyway. There would certainly be a major cost savings in not having to rebuild and maintain the Mill Street bridge over the RR tracks when there is already a major bridge on Market Street just one block to the north. A pedestrian bridge from the campus to this area would be much less costly.This is all starting to make a lot of sense as long as there aren't already plans in place to use this real estate for other projects.

[Zipsrifle]

I think it should be immediately to the East of the JAR. It would be on campus and I think we should have all of our athletic facilities in one area to keep things easy for fans year round. I also think they should then tear down the JAR and make it gree space.