Kinnick: Krause Plaza Nearing Completion

Nov. 3, 2005

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• Follow the Renovation of Kinnick!
• The Schedule: 2005 and Beyond
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• Watch and Listen to Kirk, the Hawkeyes

So, you and other fans of the football program at the University of Iowa and, for that matter, residents of the greater Iowa City area, want to know the purpose of that black fence that rests “inside” the near-completed Krause Family Plaza located immediately south of the new south grandstand at historic Kinnick Stadium?

Well, here’s the scoop. On game days next season the plaza will be 100 percent automobile free. The space was designed to be a meeting space for fans of the Hawkeyes, kind of a “front porch” for the new main entrance to Iowa’s beloved football facility.

However – and here’s where the black fence comes into play – once the game begins, the black fence will be arranged in such a way that spectators will have the opportunity to exit the south grandstand at its center and wander out onto the plaza which will be a secured space no different than the four pie-shaped corners of Kinnick Stadium.

At halftime, if not as early as the start of the second quarter, the plaza will be a place to gather and stretch one’s legs and, perhaps, purchase a hot dog and Coke and, maybe, a t-shirt from the Hawk Shop. Fans can think of it as an extension of the street -level concourse that runs the east to west length of the south grandstand.

Then, sometime between the middle of the third quarter and the middle of the fourth, the fence will be returned to the position it will be in during the week and pre-game, and fans who exit Kinnick Stadium will walk unimpeded through the plaza onto either Melrose Avenue or Hawkins Drive.

Work on the Krause Family Plaza is nearing completion. Staff of the UI Facilities Management is currently filling with black dirt the spaces that will be landscaped next spring with trees and shrubs. Other staff are erecting lightpoles while others are hanging the lamps that affix to the tops of the poles.

Click HERE to view pictures of the progress on the Krause Family Plaza and the latest work on the exterior of the new press box.

“We’re optimistic that the plaza will be 100 percent complete – less the landscaping and the statue of Nile Kinnick – by the Nov. 19 game against Minnesota, if not much sooner,” said UI Senior Associate Director Jane Meyer, the UI Athletic Department’s point person for the $89 million renovation of historic Kinnick Stadium.

Meyer said the UI expects the Kinnick statue to arrive as planned in August 2006. While the final plan is yet to be determined, Meyer said it’s likely that the statue will be officially unveiled for public viewing on the Friday night prior to Iowa’s 2006 season opener.