Construction magnate Stephen Ballard said he will submit an unsolicited proposal to Old Dominion University today to demolish most of Foreman Field and replace it with a 25,000-seat football stadium that would open in 2018 – in time for the Monarchs’ first home game against Virginia Tech.

His proposal would provide ODU with a stadium years earlier, and at a reduced cost, than what the university could build with the conventional bidding process, Ballard said. His 200-page bid, parts of which he shared with The Virginian-Pilot, proposes an aggressive construction schedule, with the stadium completed in less than two years, and without interrupting the 2017 season.

He says ODU needs to get moving on improving its football facilities if it is to compete in Conference USA.

“This stadium would look like a big-time facility,” he said. “Right now, what we have doesn’t look that impressive.”

Ballard proposed five configurations, each with different amenities and costs, with the most expensive priced at $124 million. Ballard declined to outline his least expensive proposal.

Ballard will also submit three financing proposals, which he deemed “proprietary” and would not share with The Pilot. He said he hopes the stadium can be built largely with existing university funding, new revenue generated by the stadium and fundraising.

He said the new stadium would offer improved amenities, including an additional 20 luxury suites, 1,000 more club seats, a VIP area overlooking the field and larger and improved restrooms and concessions. The suites, VIP area, club seats and naming rights would provide additional revenue that ODU officials said they need to compete.

All but the south end zone of 20,118-seat Foreman Field would be demolished and replaced with new structures. Luxury suites, club seating, locker facilities and a parking deck in the south end zone would be preserved.

Engineers and architects have said renovating the 79-year-old stadium’s clam-shell-like east and west sides and north end zone aren’t feasible, according to documents The Pilot obtained a year ago.

Ballard said the stadium eventually could be expanded to 35,000 seats.

Design elements of the existing Foreman Field would be incorporated, including the brick exterior and arched entrances, according to renderings Ballard provided.

Ballard met last week with Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim and Earl Nance, ODU’s attorney, to provide details of his proposal. Fraim said he was impressed.

“I think it’s an exciting proposal,” Fraim said. “And I think it makes a lot of sense.”

His bid is certain to heat up public debate on the stadium project. When ODU announced in May 2012 that it was moving up to the Football Bowl Subdivision, it was apparent the Monarchs would need a larger stadium with modern amenities.

But progress has been slow in the nearly four years since. There were two delays caused by the General Assembly, and the stadium has been the subject of two studies, including one that is ongoing.

ODU announced nearly three years ago that it wanted to build on a waterfront site on Powhatan Avenue on the west side of campus. But when Populous, a Kansas City firm, was hired last year to study the stadium issue, ODU asked that the Foreman Field site also be considered.

According to sources, ODU President John Broderick appears virtually certain to pick Foreman Field as the site. Broderick said Friday that he has not seen Ballard’s proposal.

Fraim said building at the existing site would allay neighborhood concerns about traffic backups that a Powhatan Avenue stadium would potentially bring to Larchmont and Lamberts Point. In addition, neighbors near Foreman Field are opposed to ODU’s proposal to replace the stadium with student housing.

“I think this will be well-received” by neighborhood leaders, Fraim said. “I don’t know about the cost of the stadium. That’s a decision for Old Dominion officials to make. But as a proposal, I think it makes a great deal of sense.”

Officials originally envisioned a stadium seating 33,000 to 35,000 but have since determined that 25,000 seats fits ODU’s ticket demand.

Ballard’s proposal includes a 1,600-car parking garage, to be built across Hampton Boulevard from the stadium. The deck likely would be paid for by ODU’s parking fund and not with athletic dollars.

His company, S.B. Ballard Construction, will submit the bid along with Clark Nexsen, a Virginia Beach architectural firm, and AECOM, a Los Angeles firm.

The bid will be submitted under the Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act of 2002, which encourages private firms to bid on projects, often before they have been solicited by government agencies. Ballard submitted a similar bid to build five elementary schools in Norfolk, which was approved by the city.

Fraim said Ballard is saving the city money and will provide new schools more quickly than would have happened had the city solicited separate bids for each school. Four of the five schools are under construction.

“So far, he’s on schedule and on budget,” Fraim said.

The public-private bidding process is touted to save government agencies money because private contractors do much of the planning, with the design and construction all done in a shorter time frame. Generally, governments commission a study for a project, then ask for bids to design the project and then seek bids for construction.

“We take those steps and do them at once,” Ballard said.

ODU officials previously estimated that doing separate bids to design and then construct a stadium would take three to four years. Ballard proposes signing an agreement with ODU late this summer. He estimates he can save ODU $2 million in material costs alone by ordering construction materials by the end of the year.

“Time is money,” Ballard said. “We’ve done $700 million worth of projects with the commonwealth. We know how the process works and how best to get projects done more quickly and at a lower price.”

”I can expedite the process and give them a great product at a great price.”

Ballard has proposed town hall meetings for Aug. 3 and Aug. 24 to get “the public involved as much as possible,” he said.

He said he knows his plans are likely to be altered by ODU.

“Not one of the five schools we’re building for Norfolk is in the same location or looks the same as what we proposed,” Ballard said.

“It’s up to Old Dominion to fill in the blanks, to tell us what they want and what they can afford.”

Under Ballard’s plan, Foreman Field would be rebuilt in phases. He would begin by building a press box tower behind the stadium’s west side in 2017, with construction continuing during the season. The luxury suites and club seats there likely would not be available until 2018.

”We would shut down on the weekends ODU plays a home game,” he said.

Then, at the end of the 2017 season, he would demolish the stands on the east and west sides and north end zone and build new seating in 9½ months.

”We’ve developed a schedule we believe we can keep,” Ballard said.

He has asked ODU to move its home opener with VMI on Sept. 8, 2018, to another date. He guarantees the stadium would be ready in time for ODU’s first home game ever against Virginia Tech on Sept. 22.(tncms-asset)3998f0db-8df7-564a-8530-71f94979a11c"}}

A Norfolk native, Ballard is a prominent ODU booster. The stadium was renamed to Foreman Field at S.B. Ballard Stadium in 2009 in his honor. He resigned recently from the school’s educational foundation board, he said, to avoid any perceived conflict of interest.

Ballard has built some of the region’s signature structures, including Norfolk’s cruise ship terminal, MacArthur Center, the Virginia Beach seawall, Norfolk State’s Lyman Beecher Brooks Library and ODU’s Ted Constant Convocation Center. His company recently built a $55 million multipurpose center at Virginia State University that includes a 6,100-seat basketball arena.

He is also the lead contractor for the new Virginia Beach arena.

Among his projects outside the region was a $50 million renovation to the University of Florida’s football stadium, which began in 2001 and took more than three years. He added a press box tower, 3,000 seats and 20 luxury suites. Ballard said he learned a lot about building a stadium in stages on that project.

Foreman Field is hemmed in on all sides by streets or university buildings, but Ballard proposes demolishing only a small portion of an ROTC building on the north side. The stadium would not infringe on Bluestone Avenue, a residential street to the west of the stadium.

Further expansion would require the demolition of the university’s Koch Hall administration building east of the stadium.

Ballard said he spent $400,000 on research and design for his proposal. He said ODU declined to share the results of Populous’ $1.3 million stadium study.

“We tried to figure out how much we think they can afford,” he said. “We’re going to show them what we think we can build for that amount and see if the university likes that. Then we’ll sit down and see if we can tweak it and make it work.”

ODU officials do not have to respond to Ballard’s proposal, but if they do, they have 30 days. If they agree to pursue Ballard’s proposal, the school would have to request similar bids from other contractors.

”What I hope Old Dominion does is take the best of the Populous study and the best of what we came up with, and combine them” in asking for bids, Ballard said.

In the end, Ballard said, he knows he could lose the $400,000 spent on the proposal.

“Sometimes, you don’t get a project,” he said. “If that happens, that’s OK. I love Old Dominion and want what’s best for the university.”

Ballard, Clark Nexsen and AECOM collaborated to do a partial renovation of Foreman Field completed in 2009. The renovation added luxury suites and a parking garage, but did little to the stadium seating.

Ballard said there are numerous gas, electric and communications lines running underneath the east stands that would need to be relocated. He said he would have to work closely with university officials, utility companies and the city moving those lines.

Ballard said he has mulled making a proposal to ODU for years. In early February, he gathered architects and engineers and flew them to a second home he owns in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., where they spent a weekend brainstorming.

Part of the exercise was rudimentary, including taking plans for existing stadiums and overlaying them on top of the Foreman Field site. When they decided it was feasible, Ballard decided to move forward.

“I do this for so many other projects,” he said. “Why can’t I do it for a university that I love so much”

 

Source : pilotonline.com

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