Funding for MAC Center renovations not yet secured

David Romano, Taylor Kerns

[pullquote]“It is very preliminary at this point”[/pullquote]

Planned renovations of Kent State’s Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center are still in the preliminary stages, according to Director of Athletics Communications Eugene Canal.

“Right now we’re in the fundraising stage,” Canal said. “The school has gotten behind the project from a fundraising perspective. Right now we’re not so much concerned with breaking ground or those kind of things. It’s more coming up with the funds to start the project in general.”

“It is very preliminary at this point,” Executive Director of Facilities Planning and Design Michael Bruder said.

The improvements will be extensive, according to Canal.

“You’re talking new seats, we’re talking accessibility issues, we’re talking revamping that third level loft up top, and just making it a better overall experience for people attending events there, whether it’s athletic or non-athletic,” he said. The proposed renovations are estimated to cost roughly $23 million. Likely improvements also include new offices and a new scoreboard and sound system.

While the source of the funding has not yet been determined, Canal said the university will very likely draw at least in part on contributions from donors.

“We are looking to fully renovate the MAC Center to modernize the current facility, improve accessibility and revamp the overall experience for anyone who walks into the MACC,” Kent State Deputy Athletic Director for External Operations Casey Cegles said in an email.

“We have looked at what other schools have done and have taken those ideas to tweak them into the MACC renovation,” Cegles said.

Bruder said the possibility of a new building was discussed, but the university decided against it.

“It was something that the university considered, but it would be much more costly,” he said. “So I think that is a reason to reinvest in the existing facility. It could be three or four times as much money to build a new one as it is to renovate the existing one.”

The MACC is also integral to the Kent State experience, Canal said.

“The MAC Center is part of the history of Kent State,” he said. “The building has been here since the ‘50s. If you were a student here over the last 60 years, you started and you ended your time here at the MAC Center.”

The proposed renovations are likely to take five to seven years and will be completed in phases, Cegles said.

The MACC opened in 1950 as the Men’s Physical Education Building. Its last major updates were made in 1992, when the building was given its current name.

 

Funding for MAC Center renovations not yet securedhttps://t.co/u0f0PpW5xM

— Taylor Kerns (@tkreporting) March 24, 2017

Hey everyone here is our #kentstate RPP store on the MAC center! https://t.co/Uu99zRDxDL

— David John (@davidjohnromano) March 24, 2017

Team contributions:

David

• Interview with Eugene Canal
• Additional interview that didn’t make it into final story
• Timeline

Taylor

• Interview with Michael Bruder
• Writing; formatting post
• MACC photos