Dr. James Aldredge heads the committee that has been working closely with the Save Mart Center architects.

Event center concepts to be unveiled

by John Zelezny

Concept designs for the Save Mart Center, including a three-dimensional video "fly-through," will be on display for faculty and staff on Tuesday, Nov. 17, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in the lobby of the University Business Center.

Three months in the making, the colorful designs include exterior elevations, the site plan, the bowl configuration, and interior views of lobby, concourse and dining areas. Architects from the firm of Sink Combs Dethlefs are scheduled to be on hand and to lead faculty and staff through a visual "tour" of the event center at 4 p.m.

Dr. James Aldredge, social work education professor and chair of the Event Center Advisory Committee, said he is impressed with the progress thus far.

"In working with the architects, who have been here on a weekly basis, I must say the project has exceeded my expectations. They are doing an excellent job of incorporating the comments of people about what should go into the building," said Aldredge.

The next step for the project is a fund-raising campaign that will determine whether all of the concept features can actually be built. The fund drive is being headed by local business leaders Bob Duncan and Ed Kashian, who are, in turn, recruiting other volunteers to help raise money throughout Central California.

Funds will be raised mainly through naming opportunities, major gifts, corporate sponsorships, luxury-suite sales, club-seat sales and personal seat licenses. The seat licenses will go on sale in early spring, with the dates to be announced in January.

Aldredge said, "It's not a matter of whether we're going to build the event center. It's just a matter of what's going to go in it."

The Save Mart Center would be the largest indoor event center between Los Angeles and the Bay Area. The ambitious target opening date is November 2001. Aldredge said the Event Center Advisory Committee will soon begin examining environmental impacts of the project, including parking.