City of Lexington releases updated renderings of Rupp Arena
January 9, 2014
By David Schuh | Men’s basketball columnist
The city of Lexington released new images Wednesday of the plans to renovate Rupp Arena, which is set to begin construction sometime in 2015, said a city spokeswoman.
The renderings show widened concourses, a new high-definition scoreboard, an interactive ribbon around the base of the upper deck, luxury suites at the top of the lower level, chairback seats throughout the upper deck and overlook decks in the upper deck of all four corners of the arena.
Mayor Jim Gray and other city officials presented ideas for how Rupp should be renovated at a public meeting on Wednesday night. Gray referenced ideas from a survey that the city launched last Thursday, according to ruppdistrict.com.
“We wanted to hear from fans — what they wanted and what their priorities were,” said Susan Straub, a spokeswoman for the city.
She said 8,227 surveys had been filled out as of Thursday afternoon. The survey will be available on the Rupp District website until Jan. 16 and can be accessed here.
Via the @RuppDistrict Twitter account, renderings and comments from the meeting were published.
“When Rupp was first built in 1976, the focus wasn’t on fan amenities,” @RuppDistrict tweeted on Wednesday. “Today, things are different.”
Another tweet read: “Right now, Rupp is buried in a commercial block, building doesn’t have a powerful presence, isn’t engaging city. Expanding Rupp perimeter allows for better concourses and convening spaces.”
Here are images provided to the Kernel by Straub:
