Stroh Center - History

History

After almost five decades of service to Bowling Green State University, a need to replace Anderson Arena emerged due to the arena's limited accommodations including only two restrooms in the entire arena and poor acoustics for concerts, but the most glaring reason for a replacement of Anderson Arena was the activities center's failure to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, all of which proving detrimental to the university's image and recruiting abilities. At the men's basketball 2008 home finale against rival Kent State, Kermit Stroh, a trustee of the university from 1993–2002, and his late wife Mary Lu donated a university record $8.7 million to the university towards interscholastic athletics with $7.7 million marked for the building of a new convocation center that was to replace venerable Anderson Arena.

After a fundraiser that netted $13.5 million, including the $7.7 million from the Strohs, Bowling Green earmarked $36 million to fund the construction of the new arena, which included a $60 student fee every semester once the building was opened until the loans for the construction of the arena were paid off. As plans for the arena accelerated despite the university's poor financial situation, several students formed a coalition to have a student vote on the Undergraduate Student Government's resolution that the student body supported paying the extra fee, leaving the passage of the resolution to the students in a vote. The subsequent vote was held online in late March 2009, 28% of the student population participated in the vote and approved of the future fee with 2,630 students in favor, while 1,182 were opposed.

Seven sites around the campus were under consideration for the construction of the Stroh Center, including the adjacent parking lot next to Memorial Hall which houses Anderson Arena and the intramural fields between Doyt Perry Stadium and the Kreischer residence halls. The university ultimately decided to build the arena on a large parking lot along Wooster Street and Mercer Road at the east end of the campus that served as one of two parking lots for students that resided in the dormitories on campus. Ground was broken on September 3, 2009 as Kerm Stroh dug a patch of ground with a backhoe at a ceremony attended by around 450 spectators and media. The first steel beam was installed at the Stroh Center site on January 25, 2010 and the site's topping off occurred during a ceremony on May 3, 2010.

In July 2008, the university announced that a 2-ton, 23-foot (7.0 m) falcon statue would be installed at the entrance of the new arena. The statue was a gift from North Carolina philanthropist, Irwin Belk, and will cost $100,000. The statue was designed by the Jon Hair Studio of Fine Art near Cornelius, North Carolina and will be the largest bronze falcon statue in the world. The falcon statue was installed in November 2010 and became part of the Falcon Spirit Plaza at the front entrance of the Stroh Center.