What is the Life Expetancy of HIlton?

[StClone]

Season ticket sales at record high and a bright future for MBB, along with nationally #2 WBB attendance and good VB interest brings to mind a curiosity about the Hilton Coliseum. Built in 1971 out of state-of-the-art Frank Llyod Wright inspired formed concrete, how much longer will it be in service?

In recent years the roof has been serviced, the ramps are crumbling and scheduled for replacement and there is that flooding issue. The last has been addressed with levees. But when the next >500-year flood laps roiled water around Hilton, it may be too late to address the question.

Are there future ideas out there to replace (move) it; or is it status quo well into the next half century for the now 43-year old structure?

 

[Rhoadhoused]

20+ years at least I would guess.

 

[CycloneYoda]

Forever. My cathedral is more important than Mecca.

 

[deadeyededric]

I'm guessing they will do a major renovation to the building in the next 10 years. Possibly building luxury boxes into the balcony somehow. I think Hilton is still one of the better venues in the conference, and I hope it is our home for the next 50 years.

 

[ISUCyclones2015]

Forever.... but if it does get rebuilt... I bet it looks very similar

 

[ISUCyclones2015]

But actually, since I work for FP&M I can see what the original Life Expectancy was.

 

[CyDude16]

FOR-EV-ER, FOR-EV-ER, FOR---EV---ER

 

[Daserop]

Until the Sun engulfs the earth.

 

[cyclonedave25]

They won't tear down Hilton, they'll just renovate it.
What they should do is add suites where the concourse is all the way around the arena, that way, people can't stand there at the 4 minute timeout. Also, a nice revenue generating source.

 

[CycloneYoda]

Until the Sun engulfs the earth.

Hilton would still be there. It was built to withstand this.

 

[Luth4Cy]

My guess is Hilton is there to stay for a while. I could see a fairly major renovation within 10 years. Only reason I see it being replaced is if our ticket sales become ridiculously high. Even then I think they'll probably rebuild a larger, but nearly identical structure.

 

[GoSTATE71]

They won't tear down Hilton, they'll just renovate it.
What they should do is add suites where the concourse is all the way around the arena, that way, people can't stand there at the 4 minute timeout. Also, a nice revenue generating source.

Wouldnt this cut seating down somehow though? How you enter the lower stands? You'd have to take out parts of sections to have entry ways into the lower part unless it was done how Wells Fargo is.

 

[alarson]

Likely a very very long time.

Lets face it, we havent been able to do an endzone project that was talked about as far back as the 70s. That's cheap compared to a new arena. Not to mention that colleges replace their facilities a lot less often than pro teams (as they cant threaten to move) especially in states with 2 major universities where the legislature is never gonna kick in to fund a replacement facility.

We will eventually see improvements to the arena though to keep it modern. The master plan a few years ago included widening the outer concourse, adding more glass to that, and then adding suites inside\removing the inner concourse. We'll probably see that happen at some point. We'll need to see exterior work to freshen up the outside and the ramps are in desperate need of replacement. We already had major improvement inside a few years back when we added the new ribbon boards, seats, and new video board\sound system, though thats about 7 years ago now, so we may be nearing upgrade time on those as well (the last ones were around for 8 years as i recall)

 

[Triggermv]

I'd be all for keeping the building but doing a major overhaul. I've never liked how dark and dungeony it has always felt in there (its pretty much a concrete bunker). There are lots of options out there for brightening the place up a bit.

 

[alarson]

Wouldnt this cut seating down somehow though? How you enter the lower stands? You'd have to take out parts of sections to have entry ways into the lower part unless it was done how Wells Fargo is.

Some major changes. Youd change how people get up to the balconies (direct stairs from outer concourse) and would have direct entries from the concourse to the lower deck. Then you'd widen the outer concourse to make up for the lost traffic flow capacity.

 

[CysRage]

Wouldnt this cut seating down somehow though? How you enter the lower stands? You'd have to take out parts of sections to have entry ways into the lower part unless it was done how Wells Fargo is.

This. I think they could go the same route as Wells Fargo did and they could do it fairly easily. I really don't think they need that upper concourse like that unless fire code says otherwise. Like another posted above, it will keep people from leaving before the last timeout and just standing at the top.

 

[Bret44]

SEZ! SEZ! SEZ!

 

[CysRage]

Some major changes. Youd change how people get up to the balconies (direct stairs from outer concourse) and would have direct entries from the concourse to the lower deck. Then you'd widen the outer concourse to make up for the lost traffic flow capacity.

I forgot about this. So I retract my prior post, it isn't as easy as I thought now.

 

[Triggermv]

Likely a very very long time.

Lets face it, we havent been able to do an endzone project that was talked about as far back as the 70s. That's cheap compared to a new arena. Not to mention that colleges replace their facilities a lot less often than pro teams (as they cant threaten to move) especially in states with 2 major universities where the legislature is never gonna kick in to fund a replacement facility.

We will eventually see improvements to the arena though to keep it modern. The master plan a few years ago included widening the outer concourse, adding more glass to that, and then adding suites inside\removing the inner concourse. We'll probably see that happen at some point. We'll need to see exterior work to freshen up the outside and the ramps are in desperate need of replacement. We already had major improvement inside a few years back when we added the new ribbon boards, seats, and new video board\sound system, though thats about 7 years ago now, so we may be nearing upgrade time on those as well (the last ones were around for 8 years as i recall)

I don't really feel like most the stuff put in 7 years ago is really close to needing an upgrade at all. The ribbon board, video board and sound system still seem to work very well and are completely adequate. The seats may be a different story. I always considered them replacing the seat cushions as a temporary fix before a more major overhaul of everything later to come in the future. The seats in general are super outdated and I'd like to see the complete seating structure replaced eventually.

 

[acgclone]

I live in a 90 year old house that is in fantastic shape and has been remodeled several times. When you think about the longevity of some of the traditional football stadiums around the country, I can't imagine why they won't be able to get a few more decades out of Hilton. It's not as if it was build in a way that would limit your seating to something far below demand.

Keep updating it and making cosmetic improvements and we should get at least 20+ more years out of it, IMO.