POCATELLO — The Idaho State Board of Education will allow Idaho State University to use nearly $10 million in reserve funding to broaden the scope of an ongoing renovation of the campus’s 52-year-old athletic dome, Holt Arena.

The board approved the request unanimously during a special meeting Thursday. The bulk of the reserve funding will address seismic code issues at the arena that were discovered as a result of the renovation that started earlier this year.

“Challenges are to be expected in major renovations of facilities of this age,” ISU Athletic Director Pauline Thiros said via email. “Idaho State University is committed to doing them right, to ensuring the health and safety of our guest and to providing a great game-day experience. The venue resulting from these efforts will serve our community decades into the future, will dramatically improve the competition environment and will positively impact department and institutional enrollment.”

The larger renovation started this past January on the north side of the facility and will entail updating seats, replacing turf, building new premium seating options, adding elevators and improving tunnels and entryways. Work on the south side of the facility will start after the completion of the 2022 football season.

Idaho Central Credit Union provided a multi-million-dollar donation for the Holt renovations but more funds are now needed from ISU’s reserves to address the seismic code issues.

The additional funding covers $7 million for structural bracing, as well as $1.825 million for ceiling panels to cover aging insulation and $960,000 for translucent panels on the north wall to add more natural light, according to university officials.

“As the plans continued to be developed for the seating renovations and upgrades on the north side of Holt Arena, engineers with our construction team stated that a seismic analysis of the facility needed to be conducted out of an abundance of caution,” ISU President Kevin Satterlee said via email. “The analysis was done to confirm that the additional weight of new seating could be supported. As a result of that seismic study, it was determined that both sides of the arena do not meet modern construction industry standards.”

Regarding the addition of funding for ceiling panels and translucent panels, Satterlee told State Board members the work is needed and may never get done if it doesn’t happen now.

Though the university has ample institutional reserves and current-year savings to cover the nearly $10 million, Satterlee said ISU would like to roll the cost into its next bond issuance in order to replenish the reserves. He explained ISU prefers to use one-time reserves to cover expenses that stand to grow enrollment, improve graduation rates and advance the institution’s academic mission. Satterlee mentioned updating a research laboratory to the board as an example of a good use of reserves.

Satterlee emphasized that Holt Arena is a valuable facility for the entire community, and the combined upgrades should extend its life for another half century.

Satterlee said the seismic bracing and seat renovations of the north side are both planned for completion by early September. Seismic bracing on the south side will be incorporated into the second phase of the renovation project.

Old seats being removed from Holt Arena are being sold to Bengal sports fans to benefit the university’s Champions Fund, which supports student athletes. Satterlee said more than 600 seats have been requested.

Satterlee said ISU has an unprecedented number of significant construction projects underway, including “some of the largest donor-funded projects in the history of our university.”

ISU also recently announced a major gift from the ALSAM Foundation to renovate the College of Pharmacy’s Leonard Hall.

Satterlee added that the state’s budget for Fiscal Year 2023 includes record funding to address deferred maintenance projects across all state agencies, which should also help cover significant investments in ISU.