Kenan suites will wait until Phase II

Phase I of North Carolina's Kenan Stadium renovation, which will begin in the coming months, won't include luxury boxes after all.

Athletics director Dick Baddour said Tuesday that in the new design plan, one — not two — floors will be added to the existing Kenan Football Center, at the cost of $18 million.

Phase II, slated to begin after the 2009 season, will include adding more than two dozen luxury boxes and a new press box to the south side of the stadium where the current press box is. Baddour said the athletics department is still working on that financial plan.

Phase III will eventually include adding seats to the east end zone, where the old field house currently stands, but plans for that are a ways away.

"The materials are on order, work has already started,'' Baddour said of Phase I, " ... but I'm not sure yet when you'll see a crane over there; probably not until at the end of January, at the earliest."

The new floor of the football center will be used for added space as recruiting rooms and offices are enlarged throughout the complex; the extra floor will also be used by the operations staff while Phase II is in progress.

Last summer, the state legislature approved $50 million of debt for the renovation project, which the school must pay back.

Baddour said he is hopeful that the first two phases will be financed through the sale of premium seats; the Educational Foundation (also known as the Rams Club) will not undertake a major campaign right now to finance the project, although there will be some focused fundraising by the organization, he said.