The home stadium of US National Basketball Association NBA) franchise the Cleveland Cavaliers is being lined up to be transformed by SHoP Architects at a cost of US$140m (€131m, £110m), it has been announced.
The Quicken Loans Arena opened in 1994, but is now the second oldest arena in the NBA not to have had a major upgrade. The proposed renovation would address important structural and operational deficiencies in the facility, while creating a more contemporary and dramatic sense of arrival to the city’s downtown and making the arena’s interior more visible from the outside.
Sports architecture specialists Rossetti have worked with SHoP on the design of the arena, which hosts over 200 events a year.
The plans – which are subject to review by both county and city councils – would see the critical entryways, concourses, neighbourhood zones and ancillary function spaces expanded by 40 per cent, opening up bottle-necked public areas and providing large gathering places for people attending the arena.
Funding for the project will be supported by Cuyahoga County, the City of Cleveland, the Cavs/Quicken Loans Arena organisation and Destination Cleveland.
“The US$140m transformation, half of which the Cavalier’s will be paying, ensures that this public facility will remain competitive in the future,” said Cleveland mayor Frank G. Jackson.
“This investment provides an innovative solution for extending the use and impact of The Q for years and years to come without the need for a much more expensive new arena. In addition, it will result in a seven year extension of the Cavalier’s lease through 2034, representing one of the longest tenures in the same facility in all of sports.”
Once the project is complete, the NBA has agreed to allow Cleveland to be a host city for the NBA All-Star week event in the near future, which typically brings US$100m in economic benefits.
The facility will remain open while renovation work is ongoing. Work is due to begin in 2017 and will take around two years to complete.
