The design consultant and program manager have been chosen for the new convocation center expected to be built within the next few years.
Kimberly P. Bauer, the Senior Director of Facilities Design and Construction Services at Georgia State, said, “We are waiting for approval from the Board of Regents before the program manager and design consultant are named.”
The total estimated budget for this project is $80 million with $60 million coming from state funding and $20 million from private funding. It is predicted that it will take 12 months to design the building and 24 months to build it.
“The vision is to create a state of the art multi-purpose facility containing a 6,000-7,000 seat arena designed to host convocations, commencements, conferences, athletic events, concerts and other major events. It will also provide instructional space to support specialized academic programs,” Bauer said.
The multi-level, 200,000 square-foot facility will be built on the corner of Fulton Street and Capitol Avenue.
“The new convocation center will connect the south campus (GSU Stadium) with the north campus and provide a new state of the art multi-use Convocation Center which will greatly enhance the student campus experience and functionality of Georgia State University especially with its location in downtown Atlanta,” Bauer said.
The proposed project comes at a time when Georgia State is expanding more and more to compensate for its constant need for space to host different types of events. The convocation center would be the future home of all Georgia State women and men basketball games and could possibly be used for commencement ceremonies and other large assemblies.
Ramesh Vakamudi, Georgia State’s Vice President for Facilities Management Services, told The Signal back in February that “the proposed facility will provide much needed relief to other campus buildings, which are struggling to meet the daily demands of a growing university community.”
Georgia State relies on renting buildings off campus for major programs and events due to lack of space, according to the university’s Master Plan. The Georgia Dome used to be rented out for commencement ceremonies before its demolition.
Now that the design consultant and program manager have been chosen, the project can continue to move along.
“The next step is to conduct a kick off meeting with the program manager, design consultant, and select Georgia State committee members and user groups to determine more specific information about the program before moving into design,” Bauer said.
