2014-02-20



Moving the Lexington Center’s convention facilities to the rear of the arena would allow for a new plaza space to be created adjacent to Triangle Park, to include retail, dining options, an LED screen and direct entry into the arena.

Photo Furnished by NBBJ + EOP

The month of March will see Lexington proponents fighting in Frankfort to retain — if not gain on — the $65 million Gov. Steve Beshear allotted in his proposed budget to “reinvent” Rupp Arena and the adjacent convention center, the Lexington Center.

Currently akin to a corrugated steel box, plans for the redesigned Rupp Arena would encase the existing bowl — the stands and court — with a new glass and steel structure, while moving convention spaces to the rear of the building. A new plaza would be created between the Hyatt Regency and the arena in space that is currently wide corridors for entry to the arena and convention space, in an effort to, as Lexington Mayor Jim Gray said, “free Rupp.”

The design calls for an increase in convention space that currently sits on the north and east sides of the arena and would be reconstructed on the west and northwest walls of the structure, including a transparent view to the concourses of the arena.

“The bones of Rupp Arena are very good,” said architect Robert Mankin, a partner with the firm NBBJ. “The bowl has this incredible space and this incredible presence about it, and we’ve wanted to keep that as we’ve developed the design. But we’ve also wanted to introduce modern amenities that you find in arenas today.”

In addition to what the mayor’s administration says are much-needed updates to the arena, the $310 million project will birth a new convention experience for the city, adding 44 percent more space.

Currently the Lexington Center’s exhibition space is 66,000 square feet, according to Mankin, the face of the architects working on the Rupp project. The new exhibition space, which will be 100,000 square feet, will be built onto the back of Rupp Arena between High and Main streets toward Jefferson. Meanwhile, a new ballroom and meeting spaces totaling 53,000 square feet will be placed along Main Street to replace their 40,000-square-foot predecessors, currently in use.

The plan to both add space and open Rupp to the street would require divorcing the convention space from adjacent hotels. The Hyatt Regency is the most closely connected hotel, as the lobby leads directly to the Lexington Center’s High Street entryway. Across Broadway, the Hilton currently connects through two different pedways: one that leads to the Hyatt via the Central Bank building and another that connects through the former Festival Market Building and the Square [the recently rebranded Victorian Square].

“It’s all images. They’re interesting and exciting, and let’s see what’s behind all of those images,” said Larry Bell, general manager of the 366-guestroom Hyatt, when asked about the recently unveiled design. Bell, who also served in the same role across the street at what was then a Radisson-branded hotel, said he was looking forward to learning more about the project before commenting.

The effect that the extra distance and the construction itself would have on the Hyatt Regency and 367-room Hilton Lexington/Downtown across Broadway is something Jim Browder of VisitLex, the city’s convention and visitors bureau, said remains to be seen.

“I know there is an intent in the design on their part to ensure connectivity and adjacency to the hotels, but I haven’t seen all the details yet,” Browder said of the designs from NBBJ in collaboration with local firm EOP Architects.

“We haven’t gotten any feedback yet from the hotel-side as far as any potential cancellations or anything like that,” he said. “I think a lot of them are waiting for this [unveiling] to talk directly with the convention center, because obviously the hotels aren’t going anywhere — it’s the convention center space. I think we need timelines, but now, since we’re at this place, they can work on timelines with us.”

But dealing with construction, Browder said, is nothing new to hotel professionals. Both the Hyatt and Hilton have undergone major renovations in the past few years, and dealing with work near them is something he is confident they can overcome.

“When you work for a hotel or a convention center, there are going to be disruptions, so it’s just a matter of figuring out how we can work around them and move forward,” he said.

At the very least, Browder said it is good Lexington has gotten to a point where the idea of a new convention center and a renovated Rupp Arena has gone from the abstract to the concrete.

“Now we can make some progress on seeing what we have to do,” he said. “There were just too many loose ends that they had to work around for us to be able to give any direction to this point.”

Gray, too, said he was glad to get to the point where years of discussion — dating back to a plan that his predecessor Jim Newberry rolled out to build a new arena in the Lexington Center’s High Street parking lot — has gone from concept to actionable design.

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