Alfond Foundation $500 Million gift to multiple Maine entities

M

mainejeff

Active Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
680
Reaction score
815
A very timely and much needed infusion to the University of Maine system, University of New England, Colby College, Thomas College, the Roux Institute, Jackson Labs (Cancer Research) and the City of Waterville.


I know that most stuff is Portland centric on here.....but the City of Waterville is really going through a metamorphosis courtesy of Colby College, the Alfond Foundation and numerous private investments. I hope to get some good pictures of some of the recent developments for you all to see. The place will be almost unrecognizable in a couple more years when the downtown area streets are reconfigured and everything is built out.
 
Anyone know how things are going in Waterville? I see Colby's hotel has a website:

https://www.lockwood-hotel.com/

Other Colby thoughts:
  • I assume by this point the arts collaborative is finished?
  • I'm pretty sure at one point I saw some plans for the building attached (via the skywalk) to the opera house?
  • I believe Colby also owns the building across the from the new dorm (the one with Portland Pie? Maybe they own all of Main St at this point) and I thought there were plans for that too.
  • Here's a look inside the new athletic center:

Maybe all of this deserves a thread? I searched and it didn't seem like there was one started?
 
I am more interested in seeing what UMaine-Orono does with their $90 million. Hopefully they update the Pit and increase the capacity so it can be used once they start drawing interest/winning. I read UMaine was going to announce more details before the end of 2020 but haven't read of any update from their Athletic department/school officials. Anyone hear or read anything regarding UMaine's master plan for capital improvements to their athletic facilities?
 
My bad on not giving more updates & pics of Waterville. When the weather improves....I will try to get some good pictures!
 
Seanflynn78 said:
I am more interested in seeing what UMaine-Orono does with their $90 million. Hopefully they update the Pit and increase the capacity so it can be used once they start drawing interest/winning. I read UMaine was going to announce more details before the end of 2020 but haven't read of any update from their Athletic department/school officials. Anyone hear or read anything regarding UMaine's master plan for capital improvements to their athletic facilities?
Click to expand...
The big announcement is supposed to be tomorrow. Can't wait to see what they come up with for new or major improvements to existing facilities.
Tune in to GoBlackBears.com at 9 am on Feb. 17 and follow Black Bears on all of their social media channels for full coverage of the unveiling of the Athletics Facilities Master Plan.
 
This is exciting news. I am usually rooting for the underdog like Maine. Looking forward to seeing their renderings.
 
Seanflynn78 said:
This is exciting news. I am usually rooting for the underdog like Maine. Looking forward to seeing their renderings.
Click to expand...
The Architect is JLG Architects.

Sports Projects

Sports Projects
jlgarchitects.com jlgarchitects.com
They have a very impressive list of projects in the Athletics/Sports category. Hopefully they have come up with something just as impressive for UMaine Athletics!
 
I grabbed a few screenshots from the presentation.

New soccer-specific field
Soccer1.PNG


New field hockey specific field on the other side of the soccer field
Field Hockey.PNG


New softball stadium
Softball.PNG
 
New basketball-specific 3000 capacity indoor arena for basketball and other events (adjacent to the football stadium)
New Arena 1.PNG


New arena 2.PNG


new arena 3.PNG


New Arena 4.PNG


New arena 5.PNG
 
Upgrades to Morse Field/Alfond Stadium (most notably moving the seating closer to the field with the removal of the track and making it more of an enclosed stadium)

1613582271984.png


1613582335541.png


1613582367982.png


1613582405913.png
 
Upgrades to Alfond Arena (they explored building a new arena and decided to renovate/upgrade, with more focus on the fan experience)

1613582599562.png


1613582634038.png


1613582667448.png


Expansion of Shawn Walsh Center and hockey support facilities

1613582815589.png


1613582858262.png
 
One of the big things that kept getting mentioned throughout the presentation was an increased ability to support television/streaming broadcasts within each stadium and arena, which I think is a smart, forward-thinking move. Not everyone wants to travel to watch a game in Orono, and having the capabilities to increase visibility into the athletic program on the regional and national level will be critical in the years and decades to come.
 
A couple of questions this brought to mind:
  • 300m track? Not 400m?
  • I take it the goal is to move basketball out of the Cross Center (aka New Bangor Auditorium)? I thought it would do well there, being an easy shuttle trip from campus and convenient to I-395 for alumni and fans.
  • Nice to see softball getting some respect. No love for Mahaney Diamond, though?
 
markhb said:
A couple of questions this brought to mind:
  • 300m track? Not 400m?
  • I take it the goal is to move basketball out of the Cross Center (aka New Bangor Auditorium)? I thought it would do well there, being an easy shuttle trip from campus and convenient to I-395 for alumni and fans.
  • Nice to see softball getting some respect. No love for Mahaney Diamond, though?
Click to expand...
Mahaney Diamond to get a new state of the art synthetic field turf, upgrades to the locker rooms, coaches offices, meeting room and Pavilion areas.
Surprising to me to see that the new basketball arena doesn't appear to have any luxury boxes as I would suspect donors and financial supporters to the programs would want such a thing included in the plan
 
The basketball arena (3K seats) reminds me of what was originally proposed for the Red Claws at Thompson's Point many years ago. Clever design of the dual usage stands for the soccer and field hockey venues!
 
Hopefully some day they'll be able to find some money to enclose the concourse under the bleachers at the stadium. The upgrades are nice, but the exposed underside of the bleachers still makes it look more like a glorified high school football stadium than a legit D1 FCS stadium. Even just throwing some panels on there to create the sense of size and structure would help.
 
This is a very rough idea on just a few of these grids, but just filling these in with some sort of mesh or even banners would make a world of difference.

Without panels.PNG
With Panels.png
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top