FOREMAN FIELD CONTRACT AWARDED TO BALLARD CONSTRUCTION
S.B. Ballard Construction Company, with Clark Nexsen Architecture and Engineering, has been awarded the design/build contract for the $24.8 million Foreman Field Football Complex at Old Dominion University. The project includes a new game day building, field surface, scoreboard, sound system, field enclosure and a contiguous parking garage.
"The football staff is incredibly excited with this project," says Monarch head football coach Bobby Wilder. "When S.B. Ballard is done with this project we will have one of the top I-AA football facilities in the country, and we've already seen the effect in recruiting from our local student-athletes. I want to thank the many people at Old Dominion who are behind this project, particularly the students. We have some of the finest students in the world, who are about to become the best football fans in the world."
The new complex will serve as the game day building for the Monarch football program, which begins play in 2009. It will feature 24 luxury suites and 400 loge seats in 100 mini boxes, in addition to media, recruiting and alumni facilities and game day locker rooms for Monarch players and coaches (the other team as well?).
"We're excited to be able to upgrade Foreman Field to a top notch Division I-AA facility in connection with our belief that quality facilities are necessary for nationally competitive programs," Director of Athletics Dr. Jim Jarrett added.
Twelve of the suites will have their own patio overlooking the plaza south of the complex, while the loge seating area also includes an 8,000squarefoot patio on the second level of the facility. Another 7,500squarefoot enclosed terrace will look directly out over the south end zone.
The current playing surface at Foreman Field will be replaced by Astroturf GameDay Grass 3D. Additionally, the field will be lowered approximately oneandahalf feet and the current crown will be removed.
The parking garage will provide space for 727 vehicles and will provide direct access to the game day building.
Site work on the Foreman Field Football Complex will commence in late 2007 with the final completion date set for Aug. 15, 2009. No work inside of the stadium will begin until the Powhatan Sports Complex is complete, allowing the Lady Monarchs' field hockey and lacrosse teams to complete their 2007-08 seasons.
Structural repairs of the current stadium, including the installation of 3,000 premium seats and the renovation of the North end zone building for visiting teams and officials, will be handled under a separate contract.
"The S.B. Ballard proposal offered the best mix of cost and facility requirements," says Bob Fenning, vice president for administration and finance at Old Dominion. "We had three excellent proposals from outstanding companies and now look forward to beginning this project, which will offer stateoftheart amenities for our football program and fans."
S.B. Ballard has constructed several major projects for Old Dominion University, most notably the Ted Constant Convocation Center and the University Village Apartments. Currently the company is building several other on-campus facilities, including the Powhatan Sports Complex, the ODU Student Recreation Center and a wrestling addition to the Athletics Administration Building.