[image-1]The top brass at Cleveland State University is floating the idea of replacing the tired Wolstein Center with an arena half the size and a smattering of student housing. Cleveland.com’s Karen Farkas reported today that the university dropped a request for qualifications for the project.
The venue can accommodate up to 15,000 people for concerts and big events, but most of the time (i.e. for Vikings basketball games) portions of the arena are curtained off and capacity is dropped to around 8,500. With Quicken Loans Arena holding down the Bruce Springsteen-sized shows, the Wolstein Center is left taking up primo real estate and pulling in little more than the occasional charity walk. Its size is at odds with the market. (Twenty One Pilots plays June 8, though.) The place also runs a $1-million deficit each year, Farkas points out.
Anyway, developers have until June 20 to toss their names in the hat, at which time CSU will seek actual proposals. The university is mulling the idea of a 5,000- to 8,000-capacity arena, soccer fields and housing for around 1,000 students on the current Wolstein site. Nothing’s official yet, of course.
The other sites mentioned for student housing locations are Krenzler Field and Euclid Avenue south of the Music and Communications Building.
Along with other student housing projects already in the works, it’s a breath of fresh air to hear the university’s approaching this matter.
(Quick note, though: I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the top-notch Tweezer from Phish’s second set at what was then called the CSU Convocation Center in December 1995. Enjoy.)
This article appears in May 18-24, 2016.
The triumph of local and state politics turned what was going to be a top-notch arena – that happened to be operated by CSU – into a scaled-back project with no ice plant…..and the red ink has flowed since the doors opened.
12 8 95 my phirst show. Didn’t know what hit me!
Having not been to CSU since my college days and only following loosely their expansion plans, O would guess this would be a better location for a scaled back stadium/events center for soccer and the occasional smaller concerts and high school graduations. Then transform Krenzler into student housing since it is closer to the actual school buildings.
Saw Obama there, saw Bernie there, and in the early Nineties, Helga (the Viking mascot) clocked me on the head with her rolling pin during a CSU basketball game, because I was cheering for the other team…my alma mater. My wife still laughs about it, twenty-plus years later.
Chuckles the Clown