Massive facilities upgrade under way at College of Charleston

Only a true visionary, or maybe the architect with the actual plans in hand, can look at the steel girders being erected on Meeting Street and visualize what will eventually become the College of Charleston's 5,000-seat basketball arena.

The important thing for Chris Henderson, the school's physical plant project manager, is that everything is proceeding smoothly with the project.

"The goal remains that that it will be ready in time for the first game of the 2008-09 season," Henderson said. "Everything is right on schedule."

Charleston's Carolina First Center will be the crown jewel of an ongoing facilities upgrade for the school that also includes renovations to the baseball and softball stadiums at Patriots Point, a new golf practice facility at Stono Ferry and eventually a track, most likely located in Mount Pleasant.

The $47 million basketball arena project will include extensive renovations to the adjacent Johnson Center and will provide for additional classrooms, new racquetball courts, an exercise area, a basketball practice facility and will also serve as a multi-purpose physical education facility.

In addition to being the home of the men's and women's basketball teams and the volleyball team, the facility also will basically serve as ground zero for Cougars' athletics.

"Yes, this is basketball and volleyball facility, but it's the centerpiece for all of athletics, the history of our athletics, where we are and where we're going," said Jonathan Evans, Associate Director of Athletics. "We hope to be able to represent that throughout the facility."

Evans said support for the new facility from the school's boosters has been overwhelmingly positive.

"Our donors have been incredibly generous and we've been very thankful," Evans said. "We've still got a long way to go, but a lot of folks are writing checks immediately to support the program, to build up points and priority toward seating in the new arena."

Over at Stono Ferry, the finishing touches are being completed on a $1.5 million practice facility shared jointly by Stono Ferry and the Cougars' golf team. The facility includes driving bays, a putting green and office space.

"We could not have done this without the cooperation from Stono Ferry," said Charleston coach Mark McEntire. "It's a win-win for everybody. We've now got one of the finest practice facilities anywhere. The recruiting benefits will be tremendous."

Meanwhile, over at Patriots Point, renovations continue on the Cougars' baseball stadium and softball field.

When that $3.5 million project is completed, the baseball stadium will have 1,000 permanent chairback seats, an expanded press facility, a new scoreboard, matrix board and sound system and a hospitality deck centered between the baseball and softball stadiums.

Henderson said the renovations are on schedule to be completed in the fall.

"We'll go from a facility that was not at the Division 1 level to something we will be very proud of," Henderson said. "It will be something that we can say, this is a division 1 baseball facility."

Charles Bennett can be reached at cbennett@postandcourier.com.