Breslin Center facility upgrades

JaredJared
edited May 2015 in Michigan State University
This was mentioned in one of the general threads, but we now have more detailed renderings of what the Breslin Center upgrades will look like.

The May 14th meeting of the Construction Junction included a presentation on the upgrades, and says that it is currently in the "Authorization to proceed" stage.

Here are some renderings:
http://screencast.com/t/PfRNOeqQbn
http://screencast.com/t/vzsKpgwtUdNj
http://screencast.com/t/fdKpz0jAAl
http://screencast.com/t/nQnvd0Z1H
http://screencast.com/t/bzcuYzdlt
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Comments

  • hoodhood
    I'm not sure how I feel about that big addition tacked on the side of the building, it looks awkward in the renderings.
  • MichMattersMichMatters
    Yeah, I'm not so crazy about the design. Not like the Breslin is some masterpiece, but the most attractive thing about it to me is it's clean oval shape and that kind of throws this off. Maybe the expansion should have followed a similar shape. Honestly, though, there is not much to do to make the exterior of its more appealing. The Breslin is an example, to me, of why you shouldn't scrimp on design features. The outside of it looked out-of-date to me even as early as the late 90's, IMO. MSU was really kind of stingy with sports complexes. Munn is really the same way; all of this is like putting makeup on a pig, quite frankly. The only real success has been with Spartan Stadium where the expansions have really worked to make the venue unique and good-looking.
  • JaredJared
    Breslin already has an expansion on the east side of it which killed the oval shape. Combine this expansion with the development across the street *as well as* a narrowing of Harrison and it could be really nice. Increased commercial along Harrison Rd will make this expansion a lot more obvious, since it will provide the main entrance to the building along the main corridor in the area.
  • hoodhood
    I'd just rather see them redo the facade all the way around, maybe blending it in with a larger addition. Adding a tacked on annex that looks like that to a building like Breslin just doesn't work for me. They're going to have to do a much better job to make Breslin an attractive and competitive facility.
  • MichMattersMichMatters
    edited May 2015
    The internal projects are really quite nice, especially the practice facilities. They are top of the line as far as the conference is concerned. And, in the public parts they've kept it from looking really dated. The new scoreboard and LED ring around the arena was a nice touch. But, yeah, the facade and grounds haved looked dated for years, if even they've maintained them well.

    There are really two things you can have with an arena. Either you have a historic arena and you try and keep that feeling, or you do the modern thing. But, if you're going to do the modern thing, you have to make sure that you build for something WAY into the future and then maintain it when it starts to get behind. Because, if you don't, things can start looking old quickly. I don't know if they were trying to do it on a budget when they replaced Jenison, but it certainly feels like they did. It's not a horrible arena, but it's really plain. It's funny that Crisler down in Ann Arbor is much older, but is a better arena experience, if you ask me. The "student events" in Breslin's name really kind of shows you what they were aiming for, intentionally or not. It's a plainess you'd expect of an arena at a much smaller, less famous university.
  • hoodhood
    The plans for Breslin's renovation are moving forward: MSU board approves renovation, expansion of Breslin Center

    New renderings:
    11442990.jpeg

    11442978.jpeg

    11442993.jpeg

    11442994.jpeg
  • david_shanedavid_shane
    The Breslin Center upgrades are $50 mil - the entire LCC budget, for everything, is $125 mil per year. I'm not complaining but the contrast is something!
  • hoodhood
    To me it's more indicative how low LCC's budget than anything else, especially given the number of students they serve.

    It's also always good to keep in mind how much money a university like Michigan State makes off of football and basketball, MSU athletics had $97 million in revenue in 2013. Successful athletics programs also give the school a lot of good press, help with drawing in (even not-athlete) students and keeping them engaged with (and donating to) the school after graduating. I know you weren't complaining, but a lot of people do complain about these sorts of projects not knowing that college football and basketball are generally profitable enough to pay for the rest of the athletic department, sometimes with money left over. I figured it was worth touching on.
  • MichMattersMichMatters
    edited November 2015
    Yeah, I don't want to get too far into this, but the athletic department is kicking in $20 million with the university kicking in the rest. One can argue whether they (the athletic department) should be paying for the whole thing, and really this is an issue of how the state allocates funding to colleges and universities. It's an apples-to-oranges comparison (MSU is one of the largest single-campus universities in the nation); the difference in scale is magnitudes, not degrees. Though, I'm sure both universities and colleges always make an argument for more money for higher education in general, and they sure let the legislatures hear it when it comes time for the budget.
  • hoodhood
    A construction cam for this project: Breslin Webcam
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