Miami committee recommends Cook Field for site of potential new arena

OXFORD – A committee of Miami University faculty, staff and alumni has finished its review of locations for a proposed multipurpose arena and has recommended it be built on Cook Field. The recommendation was sent to Miami President Gregory Crawford who will take it to the Board of Trustees at its next meeting on Feb. 27-28.

The arena would be used for men’s and women’s basketball as well as women’s volleyball. These teams currently use Millett Hall which was opened in 1968.

The committee wrote to the Miami community in an email stating the location was chosen because of its proximity to the proposed hotel and restaurant near the Farmer School of Business, its closeness to larger roads and its accessibility to student dorms. The recommendation includes keeping Pulley Tower as part of an entrance to the building.

The committee wrote that: “Miami is prioritizing these and other projects that directly benefit students and the community by supporting a vibrant and reinvigorated campus experience, as well as those that strengthen the local economy.”

Feedback from more than 1,500 Miamians along with information from the Physical Facilities Department Office of Planning, Architecture and Engineering was used to decide the location, according to the email.

The recommendation includes spending $13 million on upgraded student intramural fields which will be relocated to where Millett Hall is. The committee wrote that it will work with Miami’s Associated Student Government to ensure the fields are what students want and need.

The other proposed site on Southwest Quad will be “preserved for future opportunities for the expansion of academic programming,” according to the email.

The next Board of Trustees meeting will be held on Feb. 27 and 28. The location, times and agenda are not available as of this date.

turmankd@miamioh.edu