Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010

NU decision on IAB "is expected shortly."

University poised to clear state fairgrounds fixtures

By ART HOVEY/Lincoln Journal Star |Posted: Thursday, January 21, 2010 12:30 a.m.

A plan for tearing down 14 buildings at State Fair Park will be put in front of the University of Nebraska Board of Regents on Friday. Details laid out Wednesday by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Christine Jackson represent a major step forward in converting the fairgrounds to a research and technology campus. They also mark the end for the open-air auditorium, Ag Hall and other repositories of a century's worth of fair memories in Lincoln.

Jackson, vice chancellor for business and finance, said the job of clearing away structures that aren't suited to such uses as laboratories and offices for corporate research partners likely will get under way as quickly as weather permits. "That is part of the planning for our master plan," she said. "We will have a different use for the site than the State Fair did. We anticipate that some of the buildings will be taken from the property and reconstructed at some other site for continued use."

Salvage proceeds would go to the university, which contributed $21.5 million to the cost of moving the fair to Fonner Park in Grand Island. "We have had a lot of interest in the structures," Jackson said, "so we anticipate a healthy bidding climate."

Among the older buildings scheduled to come down is the manager's residence, where the Henry Brandt family lived for 25 years. Among the newer ones is the Lancaster Building, all steel and added to the mix in 1991 by the Lancaster County Agricultural Society at a cost of about $200,000.

Not on the disposal list is the 68,000-square-foot 4-H Building, in use since the 1930s and eyed for renovation and continued Innovation Campus use.

The Industrial Arts Building -- a fairgrounds fixture since 1917 but closed for the past several years because of a leaking roof and other problems -- isn't on the Friday list either. But its future is far from assured. A consultant has recommended its removal. Jackson said a decision on its status "is expected shortly."

Other buildings and the track used for horse racing also are getting a temporary reprieve because racing will continue through 2012.

Brandt, now 88 and still living in Lincoln, said the disappearance of the fair's physical self won't be easy for him. "It makes me cry," he said. "All we tried to do to get the fair back in good shape. And now it's gone."

Cheryl Stubbendieck, chairwoman of the Nebraska State Fair 1868 Foundation, also feels an emotional connection to fair buildings. "I think we saw a lot of that sadness from fair-goers at the 2009 State Fair," Stubbendieck said. "If you had the same stall for your cattle for generations, then it's a special place to you. "But, ideally," she added, "we hold our memories in our hearts. We can always visit them there. And for me, it's always been the people, not the buildings, that make a fair."

Larry Hudkins, who was chairman of the Lancaster County Board when the Lancaster Building was built, doesn't regard it as a bad investment now, even though its life span may be limited to less than 20 years. "We needed the room," Hudkins said. Until the Lancaster Event Center started to take shape at 84th Street and Havelock Avenue at the start of the decade, "Lancaster County never had its own fairgrounds. And with nearly 17,000 4-H'ers in Lancaster County at that time, there was not exposition room enough to serve the projects we had." He cited "a return on investment in the lives of young people and the county fair."

Leo Scherer, also on the Lancaster County Board at the time and a former State Fair employee, sounded less sanguine. "Apparently, the university likes to tear things down," Scherer said.

As destruction looms in Lincoln, construction is happening in Grand Island. Fair Executive Director Joe McDermott said the general contractor, Sampson Construction of Lincoln, expects to have three buildings and hundreds of thousands of square feet enclosed by the end of the month. "December was kind of a brutal month," McDermott said, "so they've slipped a little bit. At the construction meeting yesterday, they were on target. They're not going to tell you they're ahead."

Back to listing >>