{"id":295,"date":"2023-10-29T20:24:25","date_gmt":"2023-10-29T20:24:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/rp-miafishman\/?p=295"},"modified":"2023-12-06T19:48:37","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T19:48:37","slug":"news-conference-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/rp-miafishman\/news-conference-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Athens-Clarke County mayor weighs in on Classic Center Arena, construction scheduled to conclude fall 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Mia Fishman<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Kelly Girtz, mayor of Athens-Clarke County, addresses the financial plan surrounding the Classic Center Area. The project is expected to cost between $145-150 million. (Photo Courtesy\/Emily Slepsky)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Kelly Girtz of Athens-Clarke County discussed the ongoing development of the Classic Center Arena during a news conference early Friday morning, touching on economic interests, event programming and amenities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Classic Center Arena construction, which broke ground in January 2022 in partnership with JE Dunn Construction<\/a>, has experienced a series of delays due to budget issues. However, despite frustration, Girtz is \u201creasonably confident\u201d that the facility will open in August 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd I\u2019ll say, for anyone in the public or private sector, just building things is really challenging right now,\u201d Girtz said. \u201cCosts are high. Labor is high. Materials are high. Interest rates are high.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The arena is projected to provide over 600 new jobs and generate approximately $33 million per year, paying itself off in less than three years<\/a>. Funding for the project stemmed from $110 million in bond financing, $34 million in Special Purpose Local Options Sales Tax revenue and $5.7 through private fundraising. The final cost of the build will fall between $145-150 million, Girtz predicts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New event programming through the arena is estimated to cater to Athens\u2019 developing tourism industry. The arena will have the ability to provide for up to 8,500 people<\/a> for concerts, sporting events and banquets, ultimately boosting the capacities of downtown hotels and restaurants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you gracefully move to greater density, you actually benefit everybody,\u201d Girtz said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A professional hockey team, whose name has not been released yet, has been signed and will join the University of Georgia\u2019s Ice Dawgs<\/a> in calling the Classic Center Arena a place of their own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInitially, I was excited, because it gives the hockey team a place to call home,\u201d said Chase Malley, a fourth-year sports management major and merchandising intern for Georgia\u2019s club hockey team. \u201cThere\u2019s nowhere really that they can call theirs except for the Classic Center.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Classic Center Arena plans to accommodate patrons with a parking deck with 1,200 new vehicle spaces alongside a seven trailer load-in dock available for event planning crews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we can accommodate 94,000 people at Sanford Stadium, we can definitely accommodate 8,000,\u201d Girtz said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Progress has been consistently updated<\/a> by JE Dunn Construction through the Classic Center\u2019s website. The latest status of the build details the installation of staircases as well as the completion of the frames surrounding interior and exterior walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Why I Wrote the Story: <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This story was an opportunity for me to take a stab at experiencing news conferences and government topics. It is something I tend to not usually cover, so it was important that I used this event to build my knowledge on reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mia Fishman Mayor Kelly Girtz of Athens-Clarke County discussed the ongoing development of the Classic Center Arena during a news conference early Friday morning, touching on economic interests, event programming and amenities.  The Classic Center Arena construction, which broke ground in January 2022 in partnership with JE Dunn Construction, has experienced a series of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4432,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/rp-miafishman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/rp-miafishman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/rp-miafishman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/rp-miafishman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4432"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/rp-miafishman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/rp-miafishman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/rp-miafishman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/rp-miafishman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/rp-miafishman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}