Renovations for Reed Green Coliseum are still set to begin this year.
Initial renovations were supposed to begin at the end of Southern Miss’ basketball season, but that has been delayed primarily due to the state bidding process for the project.
The process of renovations for Reed Green Coliseum is unlike most projects because it must be broken down into multiple phases, which will span several years, and be done with an initial budget of $15-20 million on an outdated building that has to remain in operation.
“My ideal timeline would have been as soon as we ended the season, we would have jumped into it,” Southern Miss Director of Athletics Jeremy McClain told The Pine Belt News. “But we’ve hit a few snags. Once we begin the roof process, we’ll be able to move on to putting some of the things in place.
“We’re in a great spot to begin to make progress.”
ROOF REPLACEMENT
The first task that has to take place is the replacement of the roof, which is scheduled to begin by the fall.
Southern Miss has received some state funding and is receiving bids from contractors, which is also the reason for the delay.
In 2019, voters approved a 1% tax increase on Hattiesburg restaurants, hotels and motels. Of the extra revenue, half goes to the city for Parks and Recreation Department projects and the other half goes to Southern Miss for renovations at the coliseum.
“We created a budget based on the revenue we are receiving through the 1% tax, some money from the state, and some fundraising dollars,” McClain said. “It’s going to be this calendar year that we will see movement on the roof.
“We have to put that (bid) out on the state side for people to bid and then select the right product and right contractor to move forward on the project. We’re going through that process right now, and hopefully, that’ll be awarded as we go through the summer and then begin to see some actually some movement with construction as we begin the fall.”
The roof cost will be several million dollars. There is no official price yet because the project is still being bid on. The roof will receive a complete resurfacing of the outer shell, but luckily Reed Green Coliseum will still be operational. McClain couldn’t give an exact timeline on how long it might take, but it could take roughly two months depending on weather and other factors cooperating.
“Getting the roof done is the number one focus to be able to do other things,” McClain said. “There has to be a sequence of how things happen.
“It may not always happen in a sequence I want it to happen, or people want it to happen, but we are going to have to trust architects and our contractors to do it in a way that makes the most sense, and the is most efficient with our dollars. We have a finite budget here, and we are going to have sure we are maximizing our dollars.”
Other work will be needed for mechanical and structural improvements to the building. Once those are completed, addressing the facility’s scoreboard, video board and other aspects will follow. Notably, even with the upcoming renovations, Southern Miss will be unable to have a center-hung basketball scoreboard because the cost to reinforce the support on the roof will cost several more million dollars to accomplish, and therefore, is out of the range for the budget.
As of now, a ribbon scoreboard and larger video board are planned.
“Our plan is to have boards that create a great presence and that are large and really impact the atmosphere,” McClain said. “They will be much larger than what we have now. We think will have a big impact on the game environment.”
PHASE I
After the roof replacement, construction will begin to focus on all the projects in Phase I of the renovation plan, which include the Fourth Street entry, creating an entryway to the building, a lobby, ticket offices for arena personnel and redoing concessions and restrooms.
However, there is no time frame on when this will be completed.
“The reason I don’t know is because there is going to be some starts and stops to this project,” McClain said. “We may work up to a certain point, but we have to play basketball in this facility. There are going to be times that we have to shut it down or hit the pause button, depending on the type of work being done. The timeline right now is to be determined, but the main thing is to get it started.”
The first project to be undergone will be the Fourth Street entryway.
“It’s not going to be easy because it’s going to be very involved,” McClain said. “Again, you’re talking about new offices and new ticket offices, and hopefully a team store and renovate concessions, that whole front area. But I think it’s most important for us, just from the standpoint of changing the look, the feel and the impact of the building. I think that will go a long way. And it’s also something you can work on without shutting down the entire building.”
From there, the order of when to begin each project in Phase I will occur based on what makes the most sense to do during the timeframe.
“As we think about this project, we’ve got to keep in mind that what we’re doing is going to impact outside events that we’re trying to attract graduations, concerts, whatever it may be,” McClain said. “We got to make sure that what we do is aligned with serving basketball and serving the rest of the needs.”
Renovating the loading dock will be another focal point so that Reed Green can have future outside events and hopefully create some income to fund future renovations.
“The grade of our ramp and the setup in our with our loading dock just isn’t one that’s up to current standards,” McClain said. “We’ve got a really good plan there. It’s just a matter of where that fits into the timeline. It’s going to have to be something that’s in Phase I somewhere.”
BASKETBALL PRACTICE FACILITY
As mentioned, Phase I is a process that will take several years, and the funding for Phase II has yet to begin, although McClain hopes to continue to gain revenue from the 1% tax and from donors, but he or USM has yet to reach out to yet in regards of the project.
One of the top priorities of Phase II will include a practice facility for the men’s and women’s basketball teams. This is so that when events are hosted at Reed Green, it will not disrupt the practice and operation scheduled for each program.
“The timing of this is going to be somewhat dependent on revenue sources and fundraising,” McClain said. “I think it’s critical for us to get a practice facility up and going as soon as possible. We’ll show some details of that later, but that will be attached to the building.
“What might speed that up is if we can begin to make some progress on the fundraising side, get that out there and start having some conversations that speed that up for us.”
Phase II is still being planned in terms of what is hoped to be accomplished, but McClain has remained adamant that once initial renovations begin, progress will begin to be shown.
“There is going to be some financing, which we’re working on right now,” McClain said. “We’re in a better place for debt service today than we were four years ago. That’s the big difference. If we’ve got some money stuck back, we can use that and create some debt service to get us to the finish line instead of creating a big amount of debt service on the front end.”
The goal to release the visual renderings for Reed Green Coliseum is during this summer or at least when the replacement for the roof begins. Eventually, the Southern Miss athletics department also plans to release a master plan for all of its facilities.
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