McKale Renovations

[CalStateTempe]

Please zona zoo come up with something good this Thursday.

[Jefe]

Has anyone been in the new Donor Lounge on the ground floor? Haven't seen it yet but I may soon on a non game day.

Beer/Wine available Game 1 and a major upgrade coming to the data/WiFi service in McKale

Also this was posted on FB. Almost 50 years ago

[Newportcat]

There is a new Donor Lounge? Had not heard that? They have needed one forever

[Jefe]

I believe its outside the locker rooms. Also just came across these photos, not sure if this is it.

http://www.pdc.arizona.edu/Project/13-9191" target="_blank













Millers office?

[Newportcat]

Thats the improvements from McKale a couple years back and the new snack station they built. I thought maybe they would use the new Media room for a Donor Lounge maybe before or during games but not sure if its big enough. A Donor lounge that serves drinks is badly needed as I know Alums have complained about it for years. USC has the cool Founders room they use.

They sometimes use the Richard Rountree mezzanine to do pregame events but not that big of an area

I am pretty sure there still is no donor lounge

Those pictures are of the women's volleyball and basketball locker rooms too....the locker rooms now inside of McKale are all nice. I have heard people say our Men's basketball team locker rooms are better then an NBA locker room and dont doubt it

[Newportcat]

I am totally wrong, they did build a donor lounge and looks pretty sweet!

https://twitter.com/JustinESports/statu ... 8606418944

Weird as no mention of it ever on the U of A's construction website but this is badly needed and really completes McKale

Next thing I heard they are going to do is re-do the ticket office entrance completely but that is potentially many years away

[Jefe]

[azpatnca]

It's been 20 years without a Final Four appearance.

Arizona's last Final Four appearance was 2001. We won't be going in 2021.

The cactus logo was removed in 2009.

https://tucson.com/sports/greg-hansen-s ... 54bc8.html

We haven't been to the final four since removing the cactus logo.

[UAEebs86]

Not giving Hansen clicks.

SEVUN!!!

[Jefe]

Sure would be a good time to add those sky boxes...

[Beachcat97]

It's been 20 years without a Final Four appearance.

Arizona's last Final Four appearance was 2001. We won't be going in 2021.

The cactus logo was removed in 2009.

https://tucson.com/sports/greg-hansen-s ... 54bc8.html

We haven't been to the final four since removing the cactus logo.

The length of time since our last FF really puts in perspective how special it is when we do get there. I mean, in '01, I was in my early 20s, nowhere near the life path I ended up on. 20 years is roughly a quarter of a lifetime.

All I know is that I'm going to appreciate tf out of our next one, whenever it comes. You just never know when or if another might happen in your lifetime.

[Jefe]

1971-1973

[azgreg]

[Merkin]

Since the Cats have had the best attendance records in the PAC for how many decades?

[prh]

I love that Oregon and their new arena wasn’t even third. That place sucks

[EastCoastCat]

I love that Oregon and their new arena wasn’t even third. That place sucks

Not with that floor that makes you dizzy.

[Jefe]

https://uaatwork.arizona.edu/lqp/renova ... ibMAbFcSNE

Renovation of Bear Down Gym brings the Student Success District closer to completion









US Navy occupied Bear Down Gym during WWII:



When Bear Down Gym – the final component of the Student Success District – is completed in spring 2022, it will be home to a wide range of services and spaces for students, including:

Academic support and career services
Health services
Physical and mental wellness services
Meeting and gathering spaces
Dining areas

Campus Health, nationally recognized for the services it provides to students, will expand from its main location on the south edge of campus to Bear Down Gym, where it will provide medical and mental health care in addition to health education.

"Campus Recreation is most looking forward to seeing the enjoyment that we will receive when we have recreational users back in Bear Down for the first time in over five years," said the director of campus recreation, Troy Vaughn. "Campus Recreation has gone to great lengths to work with student leaders to include a recreation center in the Student Success District. An 1,800-square-foot fitness room equipped with the latest cardio equipment and gear and other amenities – such as meditation rooms and cabanas – will serve our students as well as faculty and staff who have memberships."

Webcam: https://www.pdc.arizona.edu/project/17-9381?tab=camera

[prh]

Wait, will BDG have usable basketball courts again???

[Jefe]

Awesome that they kept some of the stands as I spent a lot of my childhood there. Played in the Spot Shot Shootout several years and made it to McKale for the finals.I looked everywhere for pics of those corner bathrooms being remodeled but nothing haha.

I don't know who would use it but it may just be to preserve the history of the building. They did upgrade the hoops but notice no 3 point line and the nets are tied off.

[Longhorned]

U of A is absolutely the most brand-marked campus I've ever been on. That's very different from previous decades. Every corner of the campus is positively glimmering with costly investment.

Oregon probably is the second most I've ever seen.

Utah is the most continuously newly-built campus I've ever seen.

In the midwest, south, and east, campuses are generally stodgy, depressingly so.

[EastCoastCat]

Awesome. I played in some pretty nasty pickup games there "back in the day".

[mofo]

Glad to see it. Played a bunch of hoops in BDG in my time the late 90’s. Also frequently used the BDG weight room to avoid crowded days at the Rec. Scenery wasn’t as good but you could actually get a workout in. Except on Monday’s when Misty was working - went there a lot on Misty Mondays.

[ASUHATER!]

U of A is absolutely the most brand-marked campus I've ever been on. That's very different from previous decades. Every corner of the campus is positively glimmering with costly investment.

Oregon probably is the second most I've ever seen.

Utah is the most continuously newly-built campus I've ever seen.

In the midwest, south, and east, campuses are generally stodgy, depressingly so.

It's crazy how different the UA campus is from when I started there 18 years ago, but also how similar. The middle of campus and the mall basically look the same, except for some of the areas right in front of the union and the basketball practice gym. But the periphery is completely different. All the new stuff north of Speedway, the new rec center and parking garages, the 2 new dorms, new Environmental resources building, and all those new high rise apartments of course.

[Chicat]

U of A is absolutely the most brand-marked campus I've ever been on. That's very different from previous decades. Every corner of the campus is positively glimmering with costly investment.

Oregon probably is the second most I've ever seen.

Utah is the most continuously newly-built campus I've ever seen.

In the midwest, south, and east, campuses are generally stodgy, depressingly so.

It's crazy how different the UA campus is from when I started there 18 years ago, but also how similar. The middle of campus and the mall basically look the same, except for some of the areas right in front of the union and the basketball practice gym. But the periphery is completely different. All the new stuff north of Speedway, the new rec center and parking garages, the 2 new dorms, new Environmental resources building, and all those new high rise apartments of course.

I’m almost ten years older than you (Jesus, I’m fucking aging quickly) and the middle of campus looks totally different than when I was there. My last year they had just started the Mall and Student Union projects, so the majority of my time was in and around the mid-50s brick buildings. Newest buildings were probably Harvill and my dorm on Highland (La Paz). Now they’re probably old as shit.

[ASUHATER!]

Yeah I started the year after the 3 other new dorms on highland opened and even then La Paz was considered the other "new" dorm since it was only like 8 years old. I lived in Yuma though, so the oldest dorm. And when I was there I don't think it had been renovated since the 50s or 60s.

[prh]

I started in 07, so basically everything except the new high rise apartments and a couple of the newer dorms. And the new USS Arizona Memorial. New rec center was during undergrad. SEZ grad school I think? Played in the last basketball game in BDG during grad

I guess I haven't checked out the student success district, always been under construction. What else am I missing?

[ASUHATER!]

I started in 07, so basically everything except the new high rise apartments and a couple of the newer dorms. And the new USS Arizona Memorial. New rec center was during undergrad. SEZ grad school I think? Played in the last basketball game in BDG during grad

I guess I haven't checked out the student success district, always been under construction. What else am I missing?

There's been like 2 new medical research buildings by the hospital, the brand new hospital tower building itself, and over by like Drachman and Santa Rita north of campus there is a big new honors college mini campus with its own dorm and parking garage and offices and buildings.

[Longhorned]

But more than just the new buildings, I'm talking about how new and polished it all is, including the classic old buildings. It's all so high end and branded. Other public universities don't look like that. Not the UC campuses. Not anywhere I've seen.

Coming from the University of Illinois, it was shocking. Illinois is still your grandparents' university, and worse for the wear, not to mention dark and depressing like other Big 10 schools.

U of A used to be like Adams College or whatever it's called in the movie.

[Chicat]

Illinois is a total shithole.

[Jefe]

Grand Opening

[AzCatFan2]

Beautiful pictures. But where are the cots for the nerds?

[UAEebs86]

Beautiful pictures. But where are the cots for the nerds?

The Alpha Betas stole them.

[MountainCat]

Beautiful pictures. But where are the cots for the nerds?

[Beachcat97]

Where is this on campus? Is this the old Bear Down Gym??

[Jefe]

Correct. Its now the Student Success District https://successdistrict.arizona.edu/bear-down-building

[Spaceman Spiff]

Correct. Its now the Student Success District https://successdistrict.arizona.edu/bear-down-building

Is there anything more poetic than the student success district specifically excluding the adjacent football complex?

[Beachcat97]

Correct. Its now the Student Success District https://successdistrict.arizona.edu/bear-down-building

Thanks, Jefe. It's beautiful. I used to play rec league ball in Bear Down, and it was old, muggy, and the floor was in terrible shape. It's great to see they've finally invested in a true restoration. Happy for the college, happy for the students.