The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Closes Loan on New Arena
11/26/2013 | UMAAF
Nov. 26, 2013
OXFORD, Miss. - For the Ole Miss Athletics Foundation, Monday afternoon was a day that had been years in the making.
On Monday afternoon, after weeks, months and years of hard work, the athletics foundation closed its loan with Regions Bank on the building of the new Ole Miss basketball arena and the parking garage.
"For us, there have been a lot of people who have worked hard with Regions, Butler Snow and obviously people here in the foundation," said Keith Carter, Ole Miss Associate Athletics Director for Development. "Our foundation board has been instrumental, Lee Tyner with the University attorney's office has been instrumental, Larry Sparks was tremendous and it's the culmination of a lot of hard work. This allows us to take that next step, and from a donor's standpoint, show them that we are moving forward and we are excited about it. The next step is to get shovels out and start construction."
In a book still being written, the foundation can now turn the page and begin its next chapter, which includes construction on the largest project in the university's history. With the financing of the arena secured with Regions, construction of the arena and garage can begin on time.
"We've been talking for so long. You talk, and talk, and talk about it, but to actually see it happen; that's what people have been waiting for," Ole Miss Director of Athletics Ross Bjork said. "To be able to do that, have the garage starting after the semester is over, to have the site excavation starting in March and the arena starting in May. Now people can say, 'This is really happening.' It shows progress and everyday we're trying to make progress. This is a big, big step toward reality."
The new basketball arena will seat approximately 9,500 fans, and include a number of first-class amenities to serve Ole Miss students, student-athletes and fans. The arena will be located on the west side of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in the space currently occupied by the Rebel Shop and parking lot. A five-story parking garage with 800 spaces serving the entire campus community will be built on the south end of the arena where the northern most football practice field currently sits.
"This arena is going to be great for the university broadly," Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones said. "We will have students graduating in that facility and we will have the opportunity to be entertained in that facility. It's going to be much larger than just providing a great place for us to play basketball. It's another symbol of excellence for our university. We'll move from having the worst arena in our conference to having a state of the art arena that everybody's going to want to emulate. It's great for the university."
Construction on the new arena will begin in the spring of 2014 with the goal to open the arena no later than January 2016, which would be in time for conference action.
To learn more about donating to the campaign or securing seats in Ole Miss' various athletic venues, fans are encouraged to go to ForwardTogetherRebels.com, or contact the Ole Miss Athletics Foundation at (662) 915-7159.
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Ole Miss Associate Athletics Director for Development Keith Carter
On the next step in this projectรขโฌยฆ
"Construction is what's really exciting. We will start the garage piece of this probably in mid-December. We will get the arena site work going in March of 2014. It's going to be fun - it will be a mess, bear with us, but we look at that as progress. This project is something that's been needed for a long time and it's finally here."
Ole Miss Chancellor Dr. Daniel W. Jones
On his emotions on this dayรขโฌยฆ
"The word confidence comes to mind; confidence that our fans, our season ticket holders and our donors have in our athletics program, and our university. The confidence that I have in Ross Bjork and his leadership. The confidence that we have in the direction of our basketball teams under Coach Kennedy and Coach Insell. The confidence that we have overall in the direction and growth of the university. This is a day that we have all worked for. We've known we needed a new arena. This is going to offer opportunities for us to go higher and higher."
Ole Miss Director of Athletics Ross Bjork
On the excitement of the dayรขโฌยฆ
"It's an historic day for Ole Miss athletics and the university. This will be the largest project in the history of the entire institution up to this date when we break ground on the arena. Since I've been here we've focused on fundraising, the design and construction process and financing. This is the third leg, the financing. Now we can break ground and that process can be completed and the fundraising can continue. It's huge on many levels."
On the actuality of starting constructionรขโฌยฆ
"Now people can buy their seats. They can look on our seating map and figure out what location they want to sit in the arena. All of these things are becoming a reality for people to say, 'OK, they were serious back in 2011. They were serious when I started back in 2012. They were serious when they asked us to give money, and now it's happening.' Those shovels in the ground mean a lot to any project and now the reality sinks in."
Ole Miss Athletics Foundation Chairman of the Board Don Frugรยฉ
On how excited he is to have this day arriveรขโฌยฆ
"This is an exciting day. I have watched this dream for a long time blossom. It is terrific to finally have this day where it is an absolute go, everybody's on board and people have been generous and still need to be generous. We are moving forward and I am excited for what it is going to bring."
On starting the next step in the building of this arenaรขโฌยฆ
"I've been fortunate to be a part of the university's team for a long time and to see other projects to their fruition - academic as well as athletic - but to see this one will be just wonderful. It will be a wonderful arena. We need the additional parking spaces and this new parking garage is part of that. It's just going to be a great venue."
On the work of everyone in this projectรขโฌยฆ
"Ross and his team are doing an absolutely splendid job. Keith Carter and his group - people love to visit with them and they're generous, straight-forward and transparent. Everybody knows where everything stands, and that's the way it ought to be. Clearly Ross is the leader of the athletic department, and has hit the ground running and hasn't stopped yet."
