SOUTHEAST REGENTS TO CONSIDER ATHLETIC FACILITIES IMPROVEMENTS

Southeast Missouri State University's Board of Regents will consider authorizing further design work for proposed improvements at Houck Stadium and an addition to the Rosengarten Athletic Complex when it meets today.

The regents meet at 1:30 p.m. today in Dempster Hall's Glenn Auditorium.

The administration proposes construction of a new press box and suites on the south side of the stadium and a multipurpose building immediately west of the football field.

School officials also want to expand the Rosengarten Athletic Complex that adjoins the practice football field on the north side of the campus.

Plans call for building a separate 8,000-square-foot structure that would serve as a weight room. A canopy would connect it to the existing Rosengarten building. The addition would be designed to blend in with the polytechnic building, which is being constructed.

The Houck Stadium and Rosengarten improvement projects combined could cost $4 million, said university President Dr. Ken Dobbins. All of the estimated $1.2 million cost of improving the Rosengarten complex and most of the nearly $3 million for the Houck improvements would have to come from private funding, he said Thursday.

A small amount of funding for the Houck improvements could come from state maintenance money, said Dobbins.

The regents will consider approving conceptual designs for the athletic projects and authorizing schematic design work.

Dobbins said plans call for construction of a two-story, 14,000-square-foot multipurpose building that would have separate locker rooms for the school's football and women's soccer teams.

Currently, Southeast's football team dresses out in the Rosengarten complex and then uses the Houck Field House gym as its temporary quarters during home games. The locker rooms in Houck Field House are used by visiting teams.

Dobbins said the situation is far from ideal. With the women's soccer team scheduled to use the new synthetic grass field as well, added locker space is needed, he said.

The second story of the structure would feature a large multipurpose room and exterior deck overlooking the football field. Dobbins said the room could be used for a number of functions, including Booster Club events.

Also envisioned for the second floor are offices for a marketing director and development director for the athletics department, restrooms and a kitchen.

The second floor would include a Hall of Fame lobby where plaques and photos could be hung to commemorate the school's star athletes. Dobbins said boosters have long wanted a sports hall of fame on campus.

A bridge or walkway from the high ground near Myers Hall would allow people to enter the multipurpose building from the second floor, he said.

The football scoreboard would be moved, possibly to a location behind and above the multipurpose building.

DLR Group of Kansas City drew up the conceptual plans. The firm estimated the multipurpose building would cost nearly $2 million.

The new press box and suites were projected to cost $1.1 million, but Dobbins said that cost will be reduced even if the project has to be scaled back. "It is too much money," said Dobbins.

School officials already have made some revisions to plans for the two-story structure, which would replace the existing press box on the stadium's Broadway side.

Dobbins said there will be a president's suite and four other suites. The university wants to sell the four suites to private businesses or groups, Dobbins said.

Money from the sale of those suites and other private donations would help pay for the improvements, he said.

The two-story structure on the south side of the stadium would include an elevator. The suites would be on the lower level. Coaches and press areas would be on the second level. There would be 2,600 square feet on each level.

Dobbins said the exterior of the press box would be designed to blend in with planned improvements to the stadium's exterior. But it wouldn't detract from the stadium's architecture, he said.

"We want to keep the historic facade," said Dobbins.