Univ. of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto this week indicated that the school "does not support moving ahead" with a proposed $350M renovation of Rupp Arena and an attached convention center, which brought "simmering tensions over the project into public view," according to a front-page piece by Blackford & Musgrave of the LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER. Capilouto in a May 20 letter to Lexington Convention Center Chair Brent Rice wrote that it is “clear that there isn't enough public support for the project.” He also wrote he was "’disappointed’ in public and private criticism of UK by LCC officials and in the lack of a stable financing plan for the project.” He added that UK had seen "little enthusiasm for a piece of the financing plan proposed by Mayor Jim Gray that would sell 'Team Rupp' memberships to the public for $300 each." Capilouto was "responding to a letter sent by Rice in April that asked UK to publicly support the project." But UK has been "unwilling to join Gray in touting the latest proposal, citing concerns that state lawmakers might not approve funding for academic buildings" if they provided $80M for the Rupp project. Gray on Thursday said that he "hoped that an agreement could be worked out and the relationship between the city and the university could be mended" (LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER, 5/23). In Louisville, Kyle Tucker writes the project "took a serious blow" with Capilouto's letter. For a project whose details have been "murky from the start, two things are certain: Lexington cannot get a major Rupp Arena renovation done without" UK's support and, "at the moment, the city definitely does not have that" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 5/23).
WAITING GAME: In Lexington, Mark Story writes with Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear leaving office in '15, "maybe Capilouto figures he can wait him out." Story: "On merit, the UK president is right in his letter on two big points." The attempts by Rice and Gray to "put a financing plan in place to allow the Rupp Arena project to go forward have been in a constant state of flux," which has "made it all but impossible to evaluate the viability of their proposals." But it is "disingenuous for UK to claim that its publicly arms-length stance toward the Rupp project ... has not made it more difficult for the city to get financing in place." Meanwhile, city officials and Beshear "may need to face a hard reality of their own." The amount of "concrete financing you can put in place has to define the scope of your building plans, not the other way around" (LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER, 5/23). In Louisville, Tim Sullivan writes if the plan is "not quite dead, it is not far from flatlining." That UK has "resisted endorsing the plan despite agreeing in principle to a lease term sheet on Oct. 23 is curious." Capilouto wrote with UK's Rupp Arena lease expiring after the '17-18 basketball season, it is "important to explore all potential options." Sullivan notes should a renovated Rupp "not materialize in the interim, those options would include a short-term lease extension or a long-term commitment to an on-campus arena" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 5/23).
