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Georgia State Approves Cost of Turner Field Conversion

georgia-state-football-day-rendering-fall-2016

Georgia State University‘s board of regents has authorized a nearly $53 million project that will include the conversion of Turner Field into a football stadium.  

To secure a new home for the Georgia State Panthers, the university will repurpose Turner Field, the former home of MLB’s Atlanta Braves. The preliminary rendering above shows how the stadium could look after its conversion. Much of the facility’s existing structure would remain in place, expect for the upper deck in what is was formerly right field.

Overall, the university is spending $52.8 million on the plan, roughly $26 million of which will be directed toward the Turner Field project. Athletic department funds and private donations will account for part of the project’s cost, with the balance being paid from various university funds. More from the Atlanta-Journal Constitution:

Most of the $52.8 million approved Wednesday will come from Georgia State’s accumulated savings. That includes $15.5 million in accumulated payments from the school’s bookstore operator and $12 million in rental payments from university tenants and from film production companies, university officials said. It also includes about $10.3 million from student housing payments and other housing revenues and $4 million from parking permit fees.

About $5 million from student tuition payments will be spent on the relocation of the hospital school.

Georgia State will also spend about $2 million in fees from current students on the project. Part of athletics and commencement fees, for example, will be reallocated to the Turner Field project because the Georgia State will no longer need to spend that money to rent the Georgia Dome and other facilities for games and commencement, university officials said.

Turner Field renovation

Georgia State, along with partners Carter and Oakwood developments, are planning a much larger project to coincide with the repurposing of Turner Field, with the goal being to better connect the stadium to downtown Atlanta. The work on Turner Field will be conducted over two phases.

The university has discussed moving the football program to the stadium by next fall. The Panthers currently play their home games at the Georgia Dome, which is slated to be demolished by the beginning of the 2017 football season.

Rendering courtesy Georgia State University. 

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