![]() ![]() The new arena will have about 7,000 fixed seats with 500 standing spaces. The goal was to take the simple structural expression, natural light and steep seating rakes from historic college basketball venues such as Hinkle Fieldhouse, Allen Fieldhouse, Cameron Indoor Arena and The Palestra and combine those elements with premium seats, end zone videoboards and other modern amenities to make up Foster Pavilion. It was important to (Athletic Director) Mack Rhoades that we provide the right solution for Baylor with a home court advantage for the men’s and women’s teams.”īrown said the overall design theme revolves around a contemporary fieldhouse concept. It has its own unique place in the conference. “It’s a smaller building in direct response to Baylor conditions,” Brown said. A tight seating bowl hugs the court with multiple premium seat options and 850 student seats along the east sideline and south baseline. But Ferrell Center’s sideline seats are pushed far back in the bowl, said Greg Brown, AECOM’s principal and design lead, providing suboptimal views for watching college basketball.īy comparison, renderings of the new arena feature a completely different geometry. The existing venue, a dome-shaped building, has 10,000 seats, bigger than the planned arena. After tearing down an apartment complex, construction on one restaurant and the parking garage started in early 2020 before taking a “COVID pause,” but it should be completed later this year, Niemuth said.įoster Pavilion itself will serve as an anchor for future development as Baylor moves from Ferrell Center, the school’s 34-year-old arena. The city’s investment will come from tax-increment financing connected to a larger mixed-use development surrounding the arena to include housing, a new hotel, retail shops, restaurants and a parking garage. Baylor is responsible for funding the balance of the project through private donations. Paul Foster is a 1979 Baylor graduate.Īs part of the agreement, the city has committed $65 million for arena construction in exchange for the rights to book concerts and other non-basketball events at the facility. The arena’s official name, Paul and Alejandra Foster Pavilion, reflects the $100 million lead gift they provided in 2019 to help pay for the project. In December, city officials announced they had reached a deal with Baylor to move ahead with the project through a complex deal involving land shared by the city, the school and a private developer. Groundbreaking for the 7,500-capacity arena is set for this spring with the expectation that it will open for the 2023-24 college basketball season, said Jon Niemuth, AECOM’s director of sports for the Americas.ĪECOM has been involved in the project since the fall of 2017, waiting for the school and the city of Waco to find the right site to build the arena and come with a plan to finance it. Kansas City-based AECOM is the architect for the $185 million Foster Pavilion that will sit along the Brazos River, across Interstate 85 from McLane Stadium, the school’s football venue. The design of Baylor University’s new basketball arena combines a historic fieldhouse vibe with a crisp modern look to showcase two powerhouse Big 12 Conference programs in men’s and women’s hoops. (Courtesy AECOM) Project part of mixed-use development tied to Baylor campus A rendering of Baylor’s Foster Pavilion shows a tight seating bowl with videoboards filling the end zones. ![]()
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