The Katy Independent School District, centered about 30 miles west of Houston, will build a new 12,000-seat stadium complex in Katy, Texas, using a portion of the funds provided in a $748-million KISD bond that was approved by voters on Election Day. The Houston Chronicle reported it as being the largest bond on Houston-area ballots.
The funds will also be used to construct a 12,000-square-foot fieldhouse and create expanded parking. “The stadium itself is about $43 million,” said KISD Superintendant Alton Frailey, “but we’re going to add concrete parking, which is not required, and a fieldhouse, which is not required. Those things increased the overall constructions costs of the stadium portion of the project to about $58 million.
The new facilities will be built on 59 KISD-owned acres adjacent to the district’s existing Rhodes Stadium. All seven (eight when another, already planned high school opens) KISD high schools will be playing football in the two stadiums.
Frailey said groundbreaking for the stadium project will be scheduled for summer 2015 and that he hopes to have the facility built by January 2017 and certainly ready in time for the 2017-2018 academic year.
The new stadium will be part of an existing overall 124-acre complex that includes Rhodes Stadium; a Center for Imagination and Innovation, the Miller Career and Technology Center and other elements, according to Frailey.
Frailey presented the school district’s recommendations for architect and general contractor (HKS, in partnership with VLK Architects) to the KISD board, Dec. 8. He did note that KISD officials would recommend two design firms, one he called “a national firm” and one Texas-based, to work together on the project.
“The national firm has built professional, college and high school arenas,” said Frailey. “We will then put it out for competitive bids to general contractors.”
November’s $748-million bond followed a failed attempt last year by KISD to pass a $99-million bond with $69 million of it tagged for a 14,000-seat stadium. This year’s stadium rendition cut back on stadium seating by 2,000 and reduced the stadium cost by $11 million following the recommendations of a 227-member citizen’s committee.
Both last year’s stadium proposal and the stadium portion of this year’s proposal were controversial and garnered considerable local, regional and national media attention, most of it critical of the costs. Last year’s project would have meant building the most expensive high school football stadium in Texas, to that date, had it passed. The stadium planned now will be slightly less than that $60-million figure.
Superintendant Frailey’s response to a query regarding the cost is matter-of-fact. “That’s just the cost of building the facility that the team of staff, parents and users have asked for,” he said, then noting that the management of the stadium will be handled by a department of the school district, the cost of which is included in its general budget.
The overall $748-million bond will also be used to build three new elementary schools, two junior high schools and one high school, as well as for improvements to the school system’s existing facilities.
The Katy Independent School District covers parts of Harris, Fort Bend and Waller counties and at least one high school has a Houston address. KISD has a population of approximately 300,000, according to City of Katy Mayor Fabol Hughes, who noted that the city’s population is only about 15,000.
The Katy Independent School District is one of the fastest-growing school systems in the region and its 70,000 students will likely, according to Mayor Hughes, grow to 80,000 by 2020.
“Over the next three or four years, it’s projected that another two or three high schools will be built in Katy ISD,” said Hughes. “That would mean at least nine high schools and it would be physically impossible for all of them to be scheduled in one stadium. We’re having a great growth spurt now and we’re having to manage all this. It’s just amazing to see what’s happening.”
Mayor Hughes said the city’s concerns regarding any possible increase in congestion and noise due to the new stadium were assuaged by assurances from KISD that the stadium would be situated in such a way as to buffer the noise, that roadways were sufficient and plenty of police officers were available to direct traffic.
Hughes also acknowledged that the City of Katy should reap economic benefit from the new stadium. “Sometimes the stadium will be used for playoff games during the football season,” noted Hughes. “People will come to those games from out of town and other parts of the Greater Houston area and also shop, go to restaurants, and spend a little money here and there. That helps us with sales tax revenue and if they stay overnight that helps the hotels we have here.”
Superintendant Frailey indicated the new stadium would serve not only the varsity football games for all district high schools, but also host playoff games for various other school districts and youth leagues for various sports; provide an athletic site for additional athletic competitions and college football camps; and hold entertainment events like marching band concerts and other musical concerts.
What's the precedent?
Part of the reason the Katy Independent School District’s planned stadium has drawn such intense controversy may be related to the infamous 2012 case of Eagle Stadium in Allen, Texas, a project which used the same design firm, Houston-based PBK, that KISD had originally hired June 2013 to design this second, currently planned stadium. KISD Superintendent stated for this article, however, that PBK will not design the newly-approved stadium.
The Allen Independent School District’s stadium, which opened in 2012, cost about $60 million, a figure that garnered unflattering national headlines. The 18,000-seat stadium was condemned after less than two years due to extensive cracking in the concrete and problems with retaining walls, support columns for the press box and other structural deficiencies.
According to www.nbcnews.com on May 20, 2014, lawyers working with KISD cited in a letter provided to NBC News, referred to “construction failures” at Eagle Stadium that exacerbated “already deficient design.” According to the Dallas Morning News, both PBK Architects and general contractor on the Allen stadium, McKinney, Texas-based Pogue Construction, have agreed to work on correcting the problems at no additional cost.
KISD continues to work with PBK on other projects. The firm will build a new high school and junior high school for the school district, both to be ready for the school year 2017-2018, according to reports of a November meeting of the KISD board of trustees.
Interviewed for this story: Alton Frailey, (281) 396-6000; Fabol Hughes, (281) 391-4800