St. John Arena (Official Thread)

[BayBuck]

You are right and I am wrong.

There was no mention of the new location in the original article.

Only heard that on the radio this afternoon.

No, you're still right, St. John is officially on the chopping block now, along with French Field House and the ROTC building. That's prime campus real estate for housing and academic buildings.

 

[VBSJ]

Anyone else have good memories of ice skating on weekends at that rink and watching the Ohio High School Championships at St. John?

I remember running indoor track at French Fieldhouse too.

Sad, but understandable, I guess.

Still remember Chris Webber doing a 360 his freshman year.

 

[GoBucks1014]

Anyone else have good memories of ice skating on weekends at that rink and watching the Ohio High School Championships at St. John?

I remember running indoor track at French Fieldhouse too.

Sad, but understandable, I guess.

Still remember Chris Webber doing a 360 his freshman year.

One of my first memories was watching Jim Jackson and Toledo Macomber beat St. Joe's for the State Title in '89. My first glimpse of J.J. was him throwing down a reverse two-handed dunk early in the game.

 

[Oh8ch]

Word I am hearing is that the article is misleading. As stated, t.The new building is at another location and there are no existing plans to tear down St. John. It will eventually be torn down, but not for several years.

 

[Honor&Glory]

I am merely asking a question...

but isn't St. John on the historical registry? I would think a building like that would be preserved for as long as it could be...Can't imagine going to a game and there being no Skull Session in St. John Arena. :(

 

[bkochmc]

Anyone else have good memories of ice skating on weekends at that rink and watching the Ohio High School Championships at St. John?

I remember running indoor track at French Fieldhouse too.

Sad, but understandable, I guess.

Still remember Chris Webber doing a 360 his freshman year.

I would guess the French Fieldhouse and ice rink will not be torn down as there are no plans for their replacements... the new building will not have an indoor track or an ice rink for hockey practice. I would love to see a new indoor track facility but OSU just sunk some money into refurbishing FF a year or two ago.

 

[BayBuck]

A couple of examples of long-range scenarios from the OSU Athletic Dept. Facilities Master Plan (2008) :

http://fod.osu.edu/masterplans/subdistrict/Athletics_10_08.pdf

Base Scenario (Long Range Plan)
The long range plan for the athletic campus assumes that athletic facilities will be relocated from the St. John Arena parcel to the west of Olentangy River Road. The utilization of the southern portion of Buckeye Village will allow the completion of the ?athletics village? and strengthen the visual character and connectivity of the athletic campus. Facilities that are proposed for relocation include St. John Arena, French Field House, Biggs Athletic Training Facility, OSU Ice Rink, Steelwood Athletic Training Facility, Indoor Tennis Facility, and the Rifl e Range inside Converse Hall. The following additional items are also part of this scenario:
Utilization of the southern portion of Buckeye Village for the development of new athletic facilities and creation of an open space that will serve as the organizing framework for facility development.
Utilization of the northern portion of Buckeye Village for future mixed-use development that will add to the mix of users of the village and increase pedestrian traffic through the athletic campus.
Consolidate future athletic training facilities around the new open space to create the new ?heart? for Athletics. The new athletic facilities will house functions currently supported within St. John Arena, French Field House, Biggs, and Steelwood. The new facilities include:
New Field House with a multi-purpose field and a 300m track (replaces French Field House 200m track)
New Athletic Training Facility (replaces functions within Biggs)
New 5,000-seat Arena (replaces functions within St. John Arena)
New Sports Pavilion (replaces functions at Steelwood)
New Indoor Tennis Facility

or

Alternate Scenario (Long Range Plan)
The University leadership has not made a final decision regarding the entire utilization of Buckeye Village for near-term athletic uses. If Buckeye Village is not available in the long-term to complete the Athletics Village, then it may be necessary for the Athletic Department to develop new athletic facilities on the St. John Arena Parcel.
This scenario presents a concept that develops the St. John Arena parcel to accommodate the following:
New 5,000-seat Arena and Sports Pavilion
Will replace functions currently housed within St. John Arena and Steelwood.
New 3,000-seat Ice Rink
Will replace the OSU Ice Rink
Mixed-Use Office Building
Will be located at the corner of Tuttle Park Place and Lane Avenue to reinforce the principal northern gateway into the academic campus.
New Parking Structure
To replace and increase lost surface parking spaces due to addition of new facilities.
Cannon Drive Extension and Site Improvements
The Cannon Drive corridor will be expanded north to Lane Avenue. This corridor will be primarily pedestrian while allowing for maintenance and service vehicles on a regular basis.
Occasionally, the pedestrian corridor could be opened to vehicular traffic for additional egress from the parking structure.

The report does include an optional recommendation to demolish St. John, since all phases of recommended renovations would cost ~$40M:

Demolish St. John Arena (Optional)
In lieu of a renovation of St. John Arena, an option to demolish it was explored that would allow for additional development of the site and construction of new facilities for future academic and mixed-use. Cost estimates for renovating St. John Arena vs. building a new, smaller 5,000-seat area were explored and are included with this report.
One of the primary factors in recommending the construction of a new facility is the assumption that this portion of land would be best suited for academic purposes, as the University continues to expand.

 

[cincibuck]

Yes Saint John's was a great place. But time marches on. Oh, the memories of youth.

The power lifting club in the shoe. The old student union on high. The Sugar Shack.

But the Value City Arena is way cool as well.

Come on, if you're to talk trash let's remember the North and South 'berg, Larry's, the C&G (small cheese pizza and a very cold Bud for a buck and a quarter), Three movie theaters, Charbert's, Ptomaine Tommies (capacity 85,650, 34 at a time) and Venetian Pizza. Oh my.

 

[jwinslow]

But the Value City Arena is way cool as well.

Those 3-5 games per year that aren't a library sure are awesome. That was a terrific trade.

All so they could have an arena that isn't great at anything whatsoever and a concert venue that was obsolete right after it was debuted.

Now they may remove a core element of the football tradition as well.

 

[Steve19]

Come on, if you're to talk trash let's remember the North and South 'berg, Larry's, the C&G (small cheese pizza and a very cold Bud for a buck and a quarter), Three movie theaters, Charbert's, Ptomaine Tommies (capacity 85,650, 34 at a time) and Venetian Pizza. Oh my.

And The Castle?

 

[VBSJ]

Now they may remove a core element of the football tradition as well.

Don't worry, when Gene Smith gets done, there will be a "Touchdown Jesus" on Lincoln Tower, Ohio State will be in black uniforms, it will be "Script AllState Insurance" and Skull Session will take place on the Oval.

BTW, if/when St. John Arena gets torn down, I'm honestly going to guess that Skull Session gets moved in the direction of The Oval (so it'll go toward the center of campus rather than the Schott).

 

[cincibuck]

Don't worry, when Gene Smith gets done, there will be a "Touchdown Jesus" on Lincoln Tower, Ohio State will be in black uniforms, it will be "Script AllState Insurance" and Skull Session will take place on the Oval.

BTW, if/when St. John Arena gets torn down, I'm honestly going to guess that Skull Session gets moved in the direction of The Oval (so it'll go toward the center of campus rather than the Schott).

A parade from the oval to the stadium would be cool. Same could be done from the schot and piss off more non game drivers when all the roads are closed to let the band through. Way cooooool!

 

[MaxBuck]

I really don't see the compelling reason to demolish St. John. The talk about "instructional space" seems pretty bogus to me, since it's pretty removed from academic colleges (except Fisher). Does the business school really need more space right now?

 

[BayBuck]

$40M in renovations for an increasingly-obsolete facility can look pretty compelling to the folks who control the purse strings.

The "St. John Parcel" could be a pretty natural extension of the Academic Core North district that also has the Engineering, Architecture and Physics buildings right across the way. But it looks like at most there would be one academic/mixed-use building there, with the focus on adding a new garage and replacement athletic facilities.

 

[cincibuck]

$40M in renovations for an increasingly-obsolete facility can look pretty compelling to the folks who control the purse strings.

The "St. John Parcel" could be a pretty natural extension of the Academic Core North district that also has the Engineering, Architecture and Physics buildings right across the way. But it looks like at most there would be one academic/mixed-use building there, with the focus on adding a new garage and replacement athletic facilities.

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Why not expand this to cover the ROTC Building by including a missile silo? The missiles could be programed to hit South Bend, Ann Arbor and Tuscaloosa.