Football, Williams-Brice would receive bulk of planned spending
USC could spend $51 million to spruce up Williams-Brice Stadium and improve facilities for the football team and a handful of non-revenue sports.
The two most expensive projects focus on the football team.
According to Derek Gruner, Facilities’ director of planning and programming, Athletics is drawing up plans for a $17.55 million indoor practice facility and practice fields at the back of the Garnet Way, USC’s tailgating complex on the site of the old State Farmers Market.
That project is still being designed, but could be finished by late 2014, according to Gruner.
Athletics is also starting to move forward with a plan to convert the parking areas surrounding Williams-Brice Stadium into a plaza.
The $14 million project would add trees and grassy areas to the stadium and demolish a portion of the ETV building to the east of the stadium to make space for new parking, Gruner said.
The redesign would push ticket gates back from the stadium, creating a pedestrian loop to make walking between sections easier, Gruner said.
It would also build a new restroom facility near the northeast corner of the stadium and include a paved loop for emergency vehicles. The feasibility of such a project is still being studied, but it could be constructed between January and August, according to Gruner.
The slate of projects, which hasn’t been approved by the board of trustees, also include upgrades for non-revenue sports, like track and field and soccer.
Athletics Director Ray Tanner said that he saw a need for better facilities in his conversations with coaches and athletes after taking the top athletics job last year.
“I think we have a number of sports that need improvements (and) greater resources to compete at the highest level,” Tanner said. “I believe for great success to exist in athletics, you need outstanding talent, you need great coaching and you need resources to recruit ... We need to give our coaches and student-athletes reasons to be very successful, not reasons to be unsuccessful.”
They are:
—$10 million for upgrades to the track and field complex that would allow competitors in running and throwing events to practice at the same time. It could be completed by August 2015.
—$5 million to build a track inside the Field House after the football team gets its new training facility. The 500-seat project could be finished by December 2015.
—$2.5 million for a soccer facility that would include film viewing rooms, lounge spaces, locker rooms, a weight room and a reception area next to Stone Stadium. The project would be completed during the 2014-15 fiscal year.
—$1 million to build an addition to the tennis complex that would include restrooms it doesn’t have now to be finished by October 2014.
—$1 million for field work at Williams-Brice Stadium and $500,000 for waterproofing there.
A 21st sport?: Among the developments Athletics has in mind is the addition of five sand volleyball courts in the Athletics Village.
Tanner described sand volleyball as an emerging college sport and one that’s growing in popularity among athletes.
Adding a new sport would require board of trustees approval, but if USC gets the new courts, Tanner intends for the university to compete in the NCAA.
“If I’m going to be involved with it, it’ll be competitive,” Tanner said.
Student housing advances: USC’s plans to forge a private-public partnership to build a new residence hall near the Carolina Coliseum are moving forward, and the university has started taking proposals from developers.
Eleven groups came forward with plans after USC started taking bids in December, said Helen Ziegler, the associate vice president for business affairs.
Ziegler said the bids are being evaluated this month, and the university will request full proposals from between two and five firms for an 840-bed dorm to be finished by Fall 2015.
USC won’t be directly involved in the operation of the facility, though, said Ed Walton, the chief financial officer. Instead, it will sign a very long-term lease for the two parking lots closest to the Coliseum.
How much the lease will cost is up for negotiation, and the land needs to be appraised, but Walton said he expected each lot to be valued between $4 million and $4.8 million. The lease value will probably be close to 10 percent of the land value per year, he said.
The project represents the university’s attempt to get a slice of a boom in off-campus housing in Columbia.
According to Walton, 11,000 students live in dedicated off-campus student housing, and in a market study, 1,000 of them said they would rather live on campus.