The long-awaited Idaho Central Credit Union Arena will be completed this fall as a stand-alone basketball and events center.
The space has been in consideration for roughly 50 years as an additional space for sports. Construction began in June of 2019, staying on schedule and within budget despite the pressures of COVID-19.
The $51 million arena was been made possible with student facility fees, originally starting at $30 a year and doubling to $60 in 2018. Over the span of 35 years, these student fees should total $17.5 million.
Overall, fundraising for the arena is over 91% complete, with other funding coming from donors and a partnership with ICCU that earned them naming rights.
“You’re starting to see more of a finished product every day,” Associate Athletic Director for Special Projects Matt Martin said. “Some of those spaces are starting to take shape, along the concourse, the office areas and the locker rooms.”
The arena’s skeleton spans 67,000 square feet with construction still in progress. Installation of drywall in the lower level with locker rooms and auxiliary spaces is complete.
The roof, whose structure resembles a wave, is finished. According to Martin, the roof is meant to mimic the rolling hills of the Palouse.
“It’s a nice touchpoint from an architectural standpoint to help connect the facility to our landscape and area,” said Martin. “It makes it our home.”
The College of Natural Resources has been involved with the sourcing of materials like timber.
“The building encapsulates a lot of what the College of Natural Resources is about,” CNR Dean Dennis Becker said in a university communication. “Combined with our engineering and architecture students, past and present, they all came together to produce this product.”
A majority of the arena’s timber is sourced from University of Idaho’s experimental forest on Moscow Mountain.
“It’ll be a showpiece for our campus,” Martin said. “It will help with recruiting from the athletic standpoint, being a basketball arena.”
Besides benefiting athletics, Martin sees the arena as an opportunity to host more than just sporting events.
“For our student body, it will help in terms of having a place to congregate,” Martin said. “We will be able to bring in concerts, lecture series and all other types of events to enhance the student experience.”
The progress of construction can be seen on UI’s ICCU Arena page with a 24/7 live stream of the site.
Haadiya Tariq can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @haadiyatariq