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Grand openings set for 2022

Among the venues scheduled to open next year are the renovation of a classic college basketball shrine; two more new, soccer-specific stadiums in MLS; and a pair of hockey facilities coming to the desert.

Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center is getting an exterior facelift and new hospitality space as part of a $300 million renovation.NBBJ

Rupp renovation leads college projects

Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center will catch the most headlines with the 45-year-old home of University of Kentucky basketball undergoing a $300 million-plus renovation after adding the Central Bank title sponsorship in early 2020. NBBJ and Lexington-based EOP Architects designed the project, which will also include a new convention center. The building, owned by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, is scheduled to reopen in January 2022, despite financial difficulties inflicted by the pandemic last year. Messer Construction is overseeing the project, which will include 50,000 square feet of hospitality club space. 

The Texas Longhorns will have a new basketball home, the $338 million Moody Center, built and operated through a collaboration with Oak View Group, its first partnership with a public university. The 15,000-seat arena, built atop a former parking lot, was designed by Gensler and AECOM Hunt is the general contractor. Actor and UT alum Matthew McConaughey will serve as the minister of culture for the new venue, which OVG expects to become a mainstay on the live music touring scene thanks to Austin’s rich music heritage, and will be completed in June 2022.  

OVG is also behind a $115 million multipurpose arena in Tempe, Ariz., that will house Arizona State’s ice hockey, wrestling and gymnastics teams, with capabilities to host various other concerts, conferences and youth sports events. Construction of the SCI Architects-designed, 5,000-capacity building was scheduled to begin this month and is to be completed by December 2022. Mortenson is the project’s builder.  

San Diego State will finally have new football digs in the fall of 2022, when the 35,000-seat, $310 million Aztec Stadium opens to the public. The stadium is part of a multiuse development in Mission Valley, about 10 miles west of the school’s main campus, that will include a San Diego State innovation hub, as well as residential, commercial and open park spaces. Organizers have also spoken openly about desires for a pro soccer tenant and concert hosting to fill out the stadium’s year. The project commenced last August and is being designed by Gensler and built by Clark Construction.

Populous and Hastings Architecture are behind the design of the country’s largest soccer-specific stadium, in Nashville.Mortenson

More soccer specificity

At 30,000 capacity, Nashville SC’s stadium will be the largest soccer-specific venue in the U.S., when it opens in the spring of 2022. The $345 million stadium was designed by Populous and Nashville-based Hastings Architecture and is being built by another tag team, Mortenson and Messer Construction. It’s located in the Fairgrounds district, surrounded by mixed-use development and the Fairgrounds Speedway, which is in talks with NASCAR to bring races to the city. 

St. Louis’ roughly $400 million stadium designed by HOK and Snow Kreilich Architects and built by Mortenson will fit snugly into a downtown St. Louis neighborhood, near the city’s famed Gateway Arch. The playing surface of the stadium will sit 40 feet below street level and a tunnel beneath an adjacent road will connect the stadium to the club’s offices and training ground. The steel beam skeleton of the 22,500-capacity stadium is in place and taking shape, with the venue expected to be complete by August 2022. 

A pro rink in Palm Desert

The OVG-owned Coachella Valley Arena is a $250 million, 10,000-seat arena and future home of the Seattle Kraken’s AHL affiliate. Originally planned for Palm Springs, Calif., the arena will be in Palm Desert on unincorporated land owned by a local foundation. A joint venture with the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians fizzled due to the tribe’s shifting economic priorities amid the pandemic, and the change in plans pushed the venue’s opening back a year, to late 2022. The venue was designed by Populous and is being built by AECOM Hunt.

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