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Lane County Fairgrounds Site Assessment

The Lane County Fairgrounds is a working site, but has beening operating on a very limited budget for several years and is currently in need of considerable repair and maintenance. What follows are brief assessments of the buildings and structures that are now on the site.

Lane County Fairgrounds Aerial Schematic

1. The OSU Extension Service Office Building is a one-story building with a footprint of approximately 6,000 square feet. The building's exterior is in bad shape and needs new siding and a complete re-paint. The interior is in need of a vast remodel and a re-configuration of the office space. It is used full-time by the Extension Service and is rented at $6,000 a month; however, that rental fee has been temporarily waived due to financial difficulties facing the Extension Service. See floor plan.
2. The Wheeler Pavilion is a single-story building with a footprint of 14,500 square feet. The building is circular in shape with a unique cone-shaped roof that was re-roofed in 2009. According to a maintenance review in October of 2007 by PIVOT Architecture, the following improvements need to be made to this structure: repair broken pavement at roll-up door ($200,000), repaint exterior ($12,917), build eastside concession stand and show office ($487,500), replace pavement between Wheeler and Auditorium ($243,750), remodel men and women's bathrooms for accessibility and new surfaces ($97,500), replace carpet on interior walls ($61,425), add heavy duty carpeting in hall ($141,375)—total $1,244,150. See floor plan.
3. The Auditorium and Administration Building are essentially two buildings conjoined front to back. The Auditorium has only a ground floor with a footprint of 13,600 square feet; the Administration Building is a two-story building with a footprint of 1,100 square feet. The Auditorium is a cavernous, cement floor quonset hut with no wall paneling or wall insulation. A new roof has recently been added and it has also been recently repainted. The Administration Building is a fully operational office building used by the fairgrounds administration staff. According to a maintenance review in October of 2007 by PIVOT Architecture, the following improvements need to be made to the Administration Building: a new roof ($21,450), remodel office entry and add outside canopy: ($73,125), add accessible bathrooms ($93,600). According to a maintenance review in October of 2007 by PIVOT Architecture, the following improvements need to be made to the Auditorium: install new interior walls to cover up wood framing—14' up, include bat and insulation and vapor barrier ($65,000), replace main entrance door with aluminum system and remove concrete planters outside ($112,000), remodel men and women's bathrooms for accessibility ($268,000), enclose fire sprinkler riser ($3,510), upgrade HVAC ($397,000), upgrade interior lighting: $265,000—total: $1,112,789. Fairgrounds Repair Project suggests extensive interior remodeling before any of this other work is considered. See floor plan.
4. The Fairgrounds Museum
5. The Events Centerwas built in 1970. It is a single story structure with a footprint of 121,000 square feet. It contains the largest open floor space of any other convention/events center in the south Willamette Valley and because of the flexibility of room partitions can host a wide-variety of events or several events at once. It is the most used and only consistently profitable building on the Lane County Fairgrounds site. It is used (almost every) weekend of the year and sometimes is used by more than one client. According to a maintenance review in October of 2007 by PIVOT Architecture, the following improvements need to be made to this building: better signage to restrooms ($5,800), remodel six bathrooms ($3,900), increase lighting level in main lobby and halls ($15,600), upgrade HVAC system ($589,875), repaint roof trusses ($89,213), ongoing roof repairs ($19,500), add Performance Hall Stage railing ($8,775)—total $1,118,813. The Fairgrounds Repair Project recommends a review of the costs of this maintenance and a reassessment of the cooling capacity of the Atrium during summer months. (The glass enclosed roof acts as solar heat collector and can create prohibitive temperatures in this large room when temperatures top 85 degrees Fahrenheit.) See floor plan.
6. The Exposition Halls are a series seven, one-story, interconnected wood buildings with a footprint of 59,587 square feet. These building are used to hold conventions and 4-H exhibitions. There is a removable wooden basketball floor that can be installed in building 5 which is regularly used for youth basketball. These buildings are some of the oldest on the site and are in need of much attention. According to a maintenance review in October of 2007 by PIVOT Architecture, these buildings need a full overhaul at an estimated cost of $4,858.946. Considering the shape and condition of these structures, the Fairgrounds Repair Project suggests the maintenance costs would be better used to deconstruct and rebuild entire set of Exposition Halls. See floor plan.
7. Maintenance Shop
8. The Ice Arena is built on several split levels with a footprint of 59,150 square feet. As well as a full-size ice rink, available for skating or hockey, the building contains a business office, a shop, a small café, and complete dressing rooms. It is currently underused and is losing approximately $200,000 per year. Additionally, the ice surface refrigeration system has considerable problems with an extremely high cost ($500,000 to $2,000,000) to repair. Though this building is a very valuable community asset, it is the structure on the site with the largest hurdles to overcome. According to a maintenance review in October of 2007 by PIVOT Architecture, the following improvements need to be made to this structure in addition to fixing the refrigeration system: re-roof areas of buildup roofing ($468,000), repaint exterior: ($56,063), add elevator for ADA access to second floor ($243,750), replace rubber flooring in lobby and around rink for safety ($220,350), replace dasher boards around ice rink (?), repair HVAC (?)—total approximately $1,500,000. See floor plan.
9. The Horse Barn is an one-story, open-air structure for housing livestock. It has a footprint of 37,650 square feet. It is currently used less than 100 days of the year. According to a maintenance review in October of 2007 by PIVOT Architecture, this structure should be replaced at a cost of $585,000.
10. The Livestock Pavilion is essentially a metal shell with a 45,400 square foot footprint with a dirt floor, an office, and auditorium seats on the north side of the interior. It also has 16,000 square feet of covered space (the warm-up area) attached to the south side. This building is used less that 60 days of the year and does not make enough to pay its utility bills and upkeep. According to a maintenance review in October of 2007 by PIVOT Architecture, the following improvements need to be made to this structure: replace insulation and vapor barrier over warm-up area ($40,950), paint exterior ($68,250), improve interior finishes: ($352,950)—total: $462,150.
11. Global Assessment of Grounds The parking lot pavement needs repaving. Some portions have been repaved in the last year. Other portions still need maintenance.