Rupp Arena Arts & Entertainment District/Town Branch Commons

Lexington Mayor Jim Gray appointed 47 community leaders to a Task Force to conduct a comprehensive study on the Lexington Center, Rupp Arena, and its immediate context.

Urban Collage/Lord Aeck Sargent was engaged as the Program Planner for the effort, managing the winning design team (led by Space Group Architects) and playing an integral support and community engagement role on behalf of the City.

The resulting Rupp District Master Plan envisioned a number of key projects that will be pivotal to the future success of the area, including a re-skinned and renovated Rupp Arena, a new convention center and associated street-fronting retail, mixed-use redevelopment on existing surface parking, and a new public plaza connecting to the proposed “Town Branch Commons” – a system of open spaces and trails that would run through Downtown Lexington.

Following the work done by the Task Force, UC/LAS continues to assist the Lexington Downtown Development Authority and the Lexington Center Corporation in procuring and managing teams to perform various planning tasks. Teams have now been selected for the Strategic Financial Advisor (CS&L, Legends, Live Nation and HKS), the Convention Center Feasibility Study (CS&L, Populous), the Program Manager (PC Sports.), design of Town Branch Commons (SCAPE), and the architectural design of Rupp (NBBJ/Hunt Construction Group).

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