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Does Downtown Need an Arena?
THE CLASSIC CENTER’S PAUL CRAMER THINKS SO
By Blake Aued news@flagpole.com
Make sure you get the extra-large tub of popcorn, because
Athens is gonna be arguing about this for a while.
Classic Center Executive Director Paul Cramer is float
ing the idea of building a 6,000-8,000-seat arena on land
off Foundry Street north of the Multimodal Transit Center.
Such an arena could host concerts, trade shows, arena
football, high-school basketball tournaments, even an NBA
D-League team, according to Cramer. (Why stop there? If
Cobb County can lure away the Braves, couldn’t we talk the
Hawks into moving to Athens?)
The idea struck me as kind of ridiculous on its face. After
all, Athens already has an arena—Stegeman Coliseum—
and just two years ago the Classic Center spent a million
bucks on a scoreboard and removable bleachers to turn its
grand hall into a smaller arena for UGA hockey games and
roller derby bouts.
Plus, where would the money come from? The next
round of SPLOST coming up in a couple of years seems like
a likely candidate. But when Cramer asked for $25 million
in SPLOST funding to add onto the grand hall in 2010, he
was met with forceful opposition from folks who did not
want to wall off the area east of Thomas Street from the
rest of downtown.
Cramer acknowledges that an arena might be a tough
sell. “People fought and said no [to the expansion], but look
at the end result of it”—65,000 room-nights from new and
larger conventions and 600 new hotel rooms under devel
opment, he said.
“If you look at the number of people employed in
hospitality, that’s something I’m very proud of,” Cramer
said. (The entertainment industry, hotels and restaurants
employ almost 10,000 people locally, according to the
Census Bureau.) “We’re a town of haves and have-nots,
and the have-nots are going to be employed in hospitality
before anywhere else.”
An analysis by UGA College of Environment and Design
students found that the arena could host more than 100
events per year, bringing in $8.5 million in revenue annu
ally, with a $64 million economic impact. High-school
hoops stars would love to show off their talents in UGA’s
backyard, and people would come from hundreds of miles
around to see major acts that currently don’t have any
where to play in Athens, Cramer said.
“Forever we’ve been known as this music city, but
wouldn’t it be great if we could get some of those bigger
acts, bigger talent in?” he said.
Cramer’s also pitching the arena as a new centerpiece
to bring back the long-lamented river district—a plan to
develop the area between downtown and the North Oconee
River that was abandoned in the wake of the Selig (now The
Mark) development. He envisions the arena as glass—pro
viding views of downtown, the river and East Athens and
symbolically linking them—with a terraced park leading
down to the river and a bridge connecting it to MLK Drive.
Meanwhile, the Athens Downtown Development
Authority is exploring a more modest proposal for an out
door amphitheater. UGA
professor Jack Crowley’s
downtown master plan
includes an amphitheater
built into the hillside on
the same piece of property
Cramer is eying for the
arena. Crowley’s proposal
is a $12 million amphithe
ater, operated by the Classic
Center, that could include
1,500-2,500 covered seats
and lawn seating for an
additional 2,500 people,
with room to expand.
(Cramer, however, said he’d
prefer an indoor facility so
events aren’t beholden to
the weather.)
ADDA Executive Director
Pamela Thompson is in talks
with the UGA Carl Vinson
Institute of Government to
include the amphitheater’s
potential in a study about
the overall economic impact of downtown. But like the
arena, it’s still in the very, very, early stages. The earliest
stages.
“My board hasn’t even had the discussion [on] is it rev
enue-generating or a free-for-everyone outdoor activity?”
Thompson said.
Yes, Thompson and Cramer are aware of each other’s
plans and have discussed them. Maybe we can even do
both. “It’s not a competition or even an either-or sort of
thing,” Thompson said.
MORE CLASSIC CENTER: Not all of Cramer’s plans are quite
so ambitious. At the Classic Center Authority’s Aug. 23
meeting, he also floated a $2.4 million plan to expand the
center’s parking deck. The plan, called “Enlighten Foundry
Street,” would include 100 new parking spaces on two levels
built on top of the deck’s Broad Street side, which could
be leased to Voxpro, the Irish customer-service contractor
that’s moving into the One Press Place building. It would
also include a cafe on the deck’s second level and “affordable
work spaces for young artists” along Foundry Street. “It
isn’t something we’re going to race into tomorrow, but it is
something we ought to think about,” Cramer said.
HISTORIC TOURS: The Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation
has announced a series of four walking tours of historic
areas this fall, led by volunteers with first-hand exper
tise. Flagpole contributor Kristen Morales will lead a tour
of Buena Vista Sept. 11; David Bryant will lead a tour of
Pulaski Heights Oct. 9; Charlotte Marshall will lead a tour
of Oconee Hill Cemetery Nov. 5; and former mayor Gwen
O’Looney will lead a tour of Cobbham Nov. 13. The tours
are $12 for ACHF members and $15 for non-members.
Register at achfonline.org.
BIKE FRIENDLY?: Don’t laugh. Athens-Clarke County is seek
ing feedback on local bike infrastructure as part of an appli
cation to the League of American Bicyclists to renew the
city’s Bicycle Friendly Community status. Fill out the sur
vey at surveymonkey.com/r/Athens-ClarkeCountyBFC. ©
Classic Center Executive Director Paul Cramer pointed to this arena at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix as an
example of what a downtown Athens arena could look like.
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AUGUST 31, 2016 -FLAGPOLE.COM 5