Georgia State University‘s board of regents has authorized a nearly $53 million project that will include the conversion of Turner Field to a football stadium.
To secure a new home for the Georgia State Panthers, the university will repurpose Turner Field, the former home of the 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.
We have more on the plan on our sister site Football Stadium Digest, but 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.
For ballpark enthusiasts, the appeal of this project extends beyond the Turner Field overhaul. A ballpark for Georgia State’s baseball program is also slated for the development, and could occupy portions of the former site of Atlanta Fulton County Stadium.
The renovations to Turner Field will take place over two phases. Georgia State has discussed the possibility of the football program moving into the facility by next fall.
Georgia State is partnering with Carter and Oakwood developments on the project. As part of the plan, the project will seek to construct additional amenities that connect the Turner Field site to downtown Atlanta. The Braves played their final game at Turner Field on October 2.
Renderings courtesy Georgia State University.
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