Architects selected for phase one of UTSA Park West athletics complex

By Marianne McBride Lewis
Director of Public Affairs

(Sept. 10, 2009)--The University of Texas System has awarded HKS Inc. and Overland Partners Architects a contract to design and engineer the $22 million phase-one portion of the UTSA Competitive Athletics Complex.

HKS Inc. is a nationally prominent, Dallas-based architectural firm whose credits include designing the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Overland Partners Architects is a San Antonio firm with extensive experience with UT System building projects, in particular for UT-Austin, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio and UT-Pan American.

The phase one work calls for the contractor to design and develop the building plans for a soccer stadium, a track and field stadium, and the initial utilities, road and parking infrastructure needed for the 60-acre planned Competitive Athletics Complex.

The facility will be built at UTSA Park West, a 125-acre site at Kyle Seale Parkway and North Loop 1604, a part of the UTSA Main Campus. "The architectural planning and approval phase should take nine to 12 months," said Lynn Hickey, UTSA athletic director. "We hope to begin construction soon after the plans are approved and be hosting events in the complex by 2012."

The design will include a 1,000-seat soccer stadium and a 5,000-seat track-and-field stadium with locker rooms, meeting rooms, restrooms, press box and space for ticketing, concessions and merchandise.

The track and soccer stadiums will be funded partially by revenue generated by visitors to San Antonio and Bexar County. In a Bexar County election in May 2008, Proposition 2 was approved by voters to extend the hotel-motel and car-rental tax to pay for 13 amateur sports facilities throughout the county. UTSA was allotted $15 million for one of the 13 approved projects.

An additional $1.5 million was approved by Bexar County voters in a 2003 bond election, and San Antonio voters approved another $5.5 million in a 2007 city bond election.

The entire complex will cost an estimated $84 million and eventually will include NCAA Division I-quality stadiums for soccer, track and field, baseball, softball and tennis. The UTSA football team also will practice in the new complex.

"A first-class track and soccer facility will allow UTSA and the San Antonio community to host competitions on a state, national and international level," said Hickey. "These eventually will be top-notch collegiate facilities capable of hosting NCAA playoffs and other large-scale, tourist-destination events."

For more information on the UTSA Competitive Athletics Complex, visit the UT System Web site.