Slant Walk Green among potential locations for Millett replacement, university committee says

Faculty members at Miami University are raising concerns about a university plan to replace Millett Hall.

During a University Senate meeting Nov. 18, two members of the Campus Planning Committee said the green space near Slant Walk off of High Street is one of several locations the university is eying to construct a new basketball arena. Millett Hall, which currently hosts performances, basketball games, commencement ceremonies and other events, first opened in 1968.

Miami also put out a request for proposals for an on-campus hotel earlier this fall. One of the potential locations for that development is on Cook Field, a recreational field on the eastern side of campus.

A communications official with the university referred the Oxford Free Press to a brief published by Miami Matters when asked about the plans to replace Millett Hall and did not offer further comment. According to the brief, Miami “is in the very early phases of exploring potential projects on its Oxford campus to enhance campus life and stimulate the local economy, including building a new multipurpose arena and leasing space on campus for a new university-affiliated hotel.”

Millett Hall “would require more than $80 million in renovations in the near term,” the brief states, and a new, more centrally located arena would be better equipped to host university and city events. The university is exploring “opportunities for philanthropic funding” but has not yet publicly named any donors attached to the project. The brief does not identify any specific locations for the new arena.

The university has not commented on potential locations for the future development.

The planning committee didn’t hear about the plans to replace Millett directly from administration, said Kelly Knollman-Porter, an associate professor and committee chair. Currently, the university has several focused planning documents related to specific factors like lighting, storm water management and utilities. The last major document related to the built environment as a whole was a 2004 campus exterior space and landscape master plan.

The 2004 plan stated that several areas on campus including the Slant Walk Green “are deserving of special attention due to their unique characteristics, their historical significance, and/or their importance to the image of the University.”

During the University Senate meeting, Knollman-Porter and David Prytherch, a professor of geography and member of the Campus Planning Committee, shared a map of “buildable sites” identified by the university. The map was provided to the committee by Physical Facilities Department staff, according to one member.

In addition to the Slant Walk green space, the site map highlighted Millett Hall’s current location and parking lot, Cook Field, the Miami Inn, a parking area south of the university’s baseball field, the current location of Lewis Place, a green space on Western Campus and the current location of Williams Hall, Bonham House, Joyner House and Wells Hall. The site marked next to Slant Walk did not extend further west than University Avenue.

Miami currently has two active Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for the demolition of the Miami Inn and of Thomson Hall on Western Campus. Both have deadlines of Nov. 25 for developers to submit bids.

Prytherch said the university has competing interests in carbon neutrality, historic preservation, growth and more. Committing to a Campus Master Plan would help the university balance those interests in both the case of the arena and for future developments, he said.

The committee reached out to university administrators in 2022 to express concerns about the lack of a comprehensive master plan for the campus. Knollman-Porter said the administration denied the request, citing financial concerns. The committee, which consists of students, faculty and staff, only has the power to make recommendations, not enact policy.

Last week, the committee voted unanimously to make three new recommendations to the university. These recommendations include reiterating the need for long-term, strategic, comprehensive campus master plan, putting a stronger focus on stakeholder and community engagement in planning and decision making, and proceeding with major campus projects “only with the utmost caution to ensure they are supported by updated planning and a robust planning process.”

“Our letter is about the importance of making sure that short-term decisions align with the long-term values of the institution,” Prytherch said. “We recognize the need for agility, but sometimes it’s that need for agility that puts you in a position of making a decision that’s a good here and now decision, but then you want to make sure it’s a good long term decision … That comes through process.”

University Senate will vote on a resolution to support the planning committee’s recommendations during its next meeting in December.

The need for a new facility

Travis Steele, head coach for Miami’s Men's Basketball team, said Millett is one of the older arenas his team competes in.

“It needs some loving, that’s for darn sure,” Steele said. “It leaves a lot to be desired from a facility standpoint.”

Among the changes Steele said Millett could benefit from, Steele said the current facility doesn’t have seating that stretched down to the floor like arenas at other schools. Millett doesn’t have seats behind one of the end zones either, and the current layout keeps fans from getting close to the action. Steele said the athletic program could also benefit from updated scoreboards and training rooms.

Steele said he hasn’t been involved in any in-depth conversations about a new arena but that he sees it as a “huge positive” for both Miami and Oxford.

Telma Avelar, hotel manager for both the Elms Hotel and the Hampton Inn by Hilton in Oxford, said a new arena in town could be a positive for the tourism industry in town. She did not expect Miami’s plans for a hotel or other private developments to impact her ability to staff her hotels.

Because the hotel industry in Oxford is dependent on Miami’s schedule, special events like graduation bring in the most revenue for Avelar’s businesses. Several new hotel developments, including one on Miami’s campus, could put a slight strain on business when Miami isn’t in session, Avelar said.

If the new arena does get built, Avelar said she expects it will bring more business to town, but she hopes the university spaces out its programming in the new facility.

“We have, sometimes, several events going on on the same day, and that makes it really hard for the guests … because the town gets overwhelmed with visitors,” Avelar said. “[I hope they] try to spread out the dates a little bit to allow that flow to give better service to our visitors. If we have that ability now having this new project they have going on … I want to assume they’re going to spread out more of the events.”

Miami puts out RPFs for all development projects on-campus and has not yet asked for proposals related to construction of a new arena. The university put out an RFP for a university-affiliated hotel in October but has not yet awarded a contract. The Board of Trustees will meet on Dec. 12 and 13.