Good News About the Schools

UNF's Facilities, State-of-the-Art

The University of North Florida Athletics Department is not only recently being noted as a full-fledged Division I member, but is being recognized for its state-of-the-art athletic facilities...

One of those facilities is the 9,400-seat Hodges Stadium, the 2009 & 2010 A-Sun Conference Championships location, that opened in January 2004. The stadium, which houses the men's and women's soccer teams and the men's and women's track and field teams, features a nine lane international track. The final phase of construction included installation of the Olympic quality track with Mondotrack SX surface. This is the same surface that was featured in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Danis Building Construction Company installed the surface and recently wrote a feature article about the facility. The Danis article can be found here.

ETSU plans to have baseball stadium ready for 2011 season

East Tennessee State University has found a way to complete the $4.2 million new baseball stadium...

The ballpark will sit on 11 acres bounded by Tennessee Street, Lee Street, Taylor Street and the Norfolk Southern Railroad, just east of campus. ETSU Chief Financial Officer David Collins said he hopes the decision will help spur economic development between ETSU and downtown at a time when private money is hard to come by.

Credit markets are tight for commercial developers and ETSU got no takers this spring on a request for proposals tht would have raised money through "land leases" to private developers. Those developers then would have put buildings ringing the stadium for retail, restaurants and other commercial uses.

Income from those leases would have funded a bond to build Phase One, with existing student fees covering the second phase with its grandstands and 2,000-seat capacity. Read the complete article here.