The Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama will vote on whether to allow the installation of 715 cellular antennas inside Bryant-Denny Stadium this Thursday at their quarterly meeting.
The addition of the antennas will improve wireless phone and data reception on game days, according to Board of Trustees documents.
If approved, Verizon and AT&T will pay for the upgrade, known as the wireless distribution system, in full, the documents said.
Each phone carrier will also pay UA a $36,000 licensing fee per year, a number that will increase by three percent each year.
As of Wednesday, the initial agreement between the companies and the University is 10 years. However, the Trustees’ documents said the term would automatically be extended for five years following the first term unless either of the carriers opts out.
The Board of Trustees will also vote on a $6 million renovation to ten Hoor Hall. The renovations would upgrade accessibility to public restrooms, entrances and other parts of the building, as well as replace existing building components that have reached the end of their usual life, among other actions.
The Board’s physical properties committee will also vote on the possible construction of a 750-spot parking deck that will be located in the grass lot adjacent to the east Riverside Residential Community asphalt parking lot.
The deck will “increase the available parking spaces for students, faculty and staff, as well as accommodate parking for University sporting events and other special events held throughout the year,” according to documents.
Early proposals have the Riverside parking deck costing the University a total of $15 million.
The Board of Trustees will also consider a proposed renovation and addition to the Ferguson Center, which they approved Stage I of at a cost of $35 million in the 2011-2012 Annual Capital Development Plan.
The addition will consist of approximately 99,000 square feet of renovated space, as well as an addition of 59,643 square feet of new construction. The project will also move the Starbucks in the Ferguson Center to a location on the ground floor.
Additionally, the SUPe Store will increase from 26,247 square feet to 46,690 square feet, the book said.
These items, among others, will be considered at Thursday and Friday’s Board of Trustees meetings, which are being held at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
