A study exploring the addition of about 700 seats at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena estimates the project cost at about $3.2 million, with construction possibly starting by late summer of 2013.

As a step necessary to meet requirements for holding NCAA men's basketball tournament games there, the Spokane Public Facilities District hopes to fund the seating addition as part of an estimated $60 million in PFD projects. The bulk of that money would go toward a convention center expansion.

PFD Executive Director Kevin Twohig says the district needs to sell about $60 million in bonds to fund the entire package of improvements. As part of that, the district plans to seek voter approval next spring to extend two district funding sources—a one-tenth of 1 percent sales tax and a 2 percent hotel-and-motel room tax—for another 10 years, Twohig says.

The convention center project calls for construction of about 91,000 square feet of new floor space on the downtown facility's east campus, adjoining the Group Health Exhibit Hall, which was completed in 2006. It would complete a new public terrace on the north side of the complex that would face the Spokane River and be accessible by pedestrians, and also would include Centennial Trail and riverbank improvements.

"We've got a more up-to-date cost estimate for completion of the exhibit hall at the convention center, and to do the riverbank, and the arena," Twohig says. "We think we can do that all in the neighborhood of $60 million."

The $60 million figure is within a range that the PDF had eyed previously based on a preliminary convention center project study completed earlier this year, which estimated the exhibit hall completion and surrounding improvements at about $60 million to $70 million.

If funding is secured, the convention center upgrade could start as early as January 2013, Twohig adds.

Spokane-based ALSC Architects PS, which completed an arena seating study this summer, says the best construction window to make the arena upgrade would be an eight-week timeframe starting in late summer, after the Spokane Shock arena football games and before the start of the Spokane Chiefs hockey games.

The likely location for the additional seating is in a vacant space on the upper level's west end, Twohig says. The arena's current capacity is about 12,000 seats.

The NCAA seating requirement is relatively new, with the organization now using the benchmark of a minimum of 12,000 sellable seats, which is the number of seats available to sell, less those used for media, bands, and others. The arena last hosted games for the 2010 tournament.

Twohig says he thinks the arena seating upgrades can be completed in time to bid on NCAA tournament games in 2014 or later.

The arena study recommends allowing 13 months for full design, bidding, and construction of the seating expansion. ALSC originally designed the Spokane Arena.

Two Spokane-based contractors, Garco Construction Inc. and Lydig Construction Inc., reviewed seating options within the arena and provided input, the study says.

Among the options reviewed, ALCS recommended construction that would use precast concrete seating risers on steel beams. The study suggests that construction work be scheduled in double shifts in order to complete the work in the eight-week timeframe. The work would include installation of a new air-handling unit at the catwalk level to serve the added west-end seating.

The PFD also is considering upgrades to the arena lighting system that are estimated to cost about $2 million. However, those improvements would need to be phased in over the next few years, most likely using PFD operating revenues, Twohig says.