Memorial Stadium Project Update

The Berkeley Daily Planet reports the following:

“Steel to shore up excavations for the Student Athlete High Performance Center is already on the stadium site, and construction may be completed earlier than planned, said UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof.  The gym, a four-level partially subterranean structure, is being built at the site of the now-vanished grove which had been the site of the nation’s longest urban tree-sit.
And while crews are preparing that site, university planners are working out the final details for renovation of the western half of the stadium itself.  “We will be going to the regents sometime soon,” Mogulof said.
The regents gave their approval earlier this month to a revised budget for the high tech gym project, with the budget now set at $153 million, a boost of $25 million.  Mogulof said the additional funds were needed to cover increased construction costs, particularly labor.  Originally, the regents had approved $100 million in external funding (borrowing) for the project, but on Feb. 5 they upped the total to $136 million. Funds anticipated from gifts were reduced by $448,000 to an even $17 million.  Loans will be paid on an interest-only basis during construction, and the regents directed repayment to be the top priority for revenues earned from the campus football program.”