LEXINGTON, Ky. — A fan-focused entertainment district is among the newest investments planned for the University of Kentucky.
Champions Blue is leading the effort to bring the experience to life. Champions Blue is a nonprofit established at UK to manage athletics projects.
Kroger Field sits in the center of more than 900 acres of UK’s campus. Developers want to bring crowds to the area all year long,and Champions Blue has approved a series of new projects.
“We’ve been very blessed to have Sasaki on board. They possess a breadth of knowledge in these areas, and they have a lot of expertise in these types of planning arrangements,” said UK architect Kevin Locke.
In June, the UK Board of Trustees approved an internal loan from the university to Champions Blue.
Now up to $110 million is earmarked for improving facilities, Wi-Fi, suites and infrastructure, including updates in and around Kroger Field.
Locke said the area off Cooper Drive is a particular focus as it’s also a food desert with heavy traffic.
“So when you think about that, how do you activate the area, provide those food and beverage opportunities and also maybe a little bit of retail, maybe some housing opportunities in that area for those people,” he said.
The school is now in the second of three phases, unveiling four prospective concepts for a fan-oriented entertainment hub.
The goal is to reimagine a connection for the South Campus to the other areas, building a stronger sense of community.
Locke said, “The linear connector is along University Drive, which he described as the main frontage of this development,” he explained. “And then going back to the Cooper connector, that’s along Cooper Drive and represents another key piece of the development, allowing you’re phasing this from a north to south standpoint.”
He said his team is looking into similar cities and university sites while working to keep their plans authentic to UK and Lexington.
“You don’t want to just turn the project over to a developer and say, ‘Hey, you guys go for it,’ and you end up with something that is not unique and beneficial for the University of Kentucky and the city,” Locke said.
Phase two will wrap by mid-spring, and phase three of the development and planning process for the fan experience is expected to wrap by the end of June.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source spectrumnews1.com ’
