THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 12, 1996 TAG: 9601120620
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
Norfolk State's plans to complete its on-campus football facility hit a snag this week when none of five construction bids came in under the proposed $10.6 million budget.
The university's stadium financing team will convene Tuesday to decide what steps to take and will discuss approaching the General Assembly for approval to spend more money on the project, dubbed Phase 3 of the university's three-phase upgrading of its athletic facilities.
Phase 1 included the initial construction of the football field, the eight-lane polyurethane track and one side of the football stadium, which seats approximately 3,000 and houses the president's skybox and press box.
Phase 2 includes a 1,600-seat baseball complex and an adjoining softball field. Construction is in its final stages. Combined, those two phases cost a little more than $4.2 million.
Phase 3 will increase seating for the still unnamed stadium to approximately 30,000 while adding a field house with locker rooms in the east end zone.
To complete it, the university received clearance from the General Assembly to raise $9 million through 20-year revenue bonds, with the other $1.6 million coming from university reserves raised through capital improvements and student-activities fees.
Clementine Cone, NSU vice president of finance and business, Thursday said that the stadium financing team likely would ask the General Assembly to increase the amount coming from university reserves.
``All five bids came in over budget,'' Cone said. ``Now we'll sit down and look at our options. Where did we go wrong? Do we rebid it? The bids were quite a bit off.''
Another option would be for the University Building Committee to downsize the plans.
Cone said the school's football team had no serious plans of playing in the stadium this fall, aiming instead for the 1997 football season, when Norfolk State intends to jump from Division II to Division I-AA.
The university had originally intended to start acquiring the revenue bonds Jan. 17. The General Assembly gave Norfolk State approval to seek Class 9D bonds, one of two ways to fund such projects. Class 9C bonds are guaranteed by the state. Class 9D bonds are acquired through the university itself, which must seek its own underwriters.
Cone said the university will finance the project through a variety of banks, pension plans, securities and private donations.
``We don't think the time factor is a big problem,'' Cone said. ``We were looking at 1997 all along. We have time to sit back and analyze this.'' by CNB