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New arena will serve more than just athletics

As plans for the new basketball arena move forward, students, alumni and the Charlottesville community will remain a primary focus of fundraising efforts, architectural planning and the overall vision of the athletic department.

The basketball arena project is part of a broader effort to address the lack of adequate space for large gatherings, such as concerts, major speeches and exhibits and exhibitions, University President John T. Casteen III said.

The Virginia Student Aid Foundation is running the fundraising campaign for the basketball arena project. Total cost estimates reach $128 million.

"We still have a long way to go," VSAF Executive Director Dirk Kastra said.

Funding comes directly from private dollars and also department revenues and bonding, University Athletic Director Craig Littlepage said.

The arena project "will not impact those sources of revenue for academic purposes," Littlepage added.

VSAF has received pledges totaling $44 million -- two large-scale gifts, each at $20 million, jumpstarted the campaign.

VSAF also is working on naming opportunities for the new arena, fundraising for courtside seating, suite marketing strategies and amassing large-scale support for the project, he said.

Donors see the arena project as "something that they should support because they see it as necessary and do not expect the state to participate," Casteen said.

The architectural arm of the arena project involves three phases: schematic/early design, preliminary and technical, VMDO Architects Inc. principal architect Robert Moje said. VMDO is the architecture firm spearheading the arena project.

VMDO has moved into the third, technical phase of the project since the Board of Visitors approved early design plans last week. VMDO now is working on construction drawings, which it will submit to the Board in early October for further approval.

VMDO is working to take the larger architectural project and break it "into small pieces and different construction companies work on each part," Moje said.

Approximately 50 to 60 construction companies will work on the various aspects of construction.

A large part of VMDO's architectural goals center around a "student perspective," Moje said.The arena facility will seat roughly 15,000 fans.

The facility will not only have an athletic purpose, but provide a venue for conferences, forums, large-scale meetings and concerts.

The arena will "probably be the largest indoor site in Virginia," Moje said.

Littlepage forged a close relationship with Student Council to ensure the importance of student interest in the project.

Community members also play a role in planning, because the community has a general understanding of the need for such a facility as a gathering place for different types of University events, he added.

"Athletics brings people together and back to Grounds" in very unique ways, he said. "This project will support the University, the local community and our basketball programs in ways University Hall can not."

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