Proposed USA Swimming facility might land at Concordia

Plan hinges on money and timing of private Lutheran university's move.

By Camille Wheeler
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF 

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Concordia University plans to move to the hills of far Northwest Austin, freeing up its 23-acre Central Austin campus for a proposed USA Swimming training center for Olympic hopefuls and other swimmers.

The private, Lutheran university is negotiating to buy the former Schlumberger Ltd. business campus off RM 620 as a new real estate group pitches an Olympic-style village that would include at least one 50-meter pool, a hotel, condominiums and apartments, retail stores and restaurants at the current campus. For Austin, a city deep with world-class swimmers through its University of Texas pipeline, it's an Olympic-sized dream just a flip turn away.

But one move can't happen without the other, a fact that cash-strapped Concordia officials say they're well aware of as they try to secure a contract for the former Schlumberger land. University officials won't disclose their offer, but the total 489-acre Schlumberger site, which includes 189 developable acres, was on the market for $25 million when the Houston-based Lionstone Group bought it in December 2005.

Concordia's campus, along North Interstate 35, carries a market value of about $85 million. Developers with the newly formed East Avenue IG LP, would not say how much they'll pay Concordia, saying only they have reached a "high level" of agreement with university officials.

John McIlhargy, facility development director for USA Swimming, which operates as a governing body under the U.S. Olympic Committee umbrella, said the proposed 2-acre Austin swim center, which could cost $18 million to $25 million, has his full support.

The center would be big enough to compete for the U.S. Olympic time trials for the 2012 Summer Olympics, McIlhargy said, explaining that USA Swimming runs the trials and is responsible for choosing and compiling Olympic teams.

"We don't have a facility that could host our time trials," he said. "Right now, we hold time trials in sports arenas and build temporary pools."

Olympic time trials require two 50-meter pools and seating for at least 12,000 spectators.

Austin's facility would start with one 50-meter pool, could add a second atop a planned parking garage and could exceed the required seating, said Andy Sarwal, an Austin developer and principal with East Avenue IG who pitched the concept to USA Swimming officials.

The swim center also could serve as a year-round training facility and keep a swimming pipeline going for youth, McIlhargy said.

"We have a high level of confidence," he said of the Austin partnership's proposal. "They have a very good chance here because the right people seem to be involved at the right time."

But Darryl Seibel, a USOC spokesman, said the Olympic committee rejected a request from USA Swimming to extend an Olympic training site designation to the proposed Austin center.

The main reason, Seibel said, was to protect official Olympic sponsors, such as Coca-Cola. Under USOC rules, USA Swimming facilities must obtain their own, separate sponsors.

But USA Swimming has every right to build its own training facilities, Seibel said.

Sarwal, former senior vice president of business development and real estate for San Marcos-based Grande Communications, declined to name the East Avenue partnership's other members.

Sarwal there is plenty of investor money to pay for a proposed town center but declined to name those investors. Money for the swim center would come from a variety of sources, including corporations and charitable contributions, he said.

The swim center would be the crowning jewel of what would be called East Avenue Town Center, an Olympic-style village that would replace all structures on Concordia's current campus and feature a hotel, athletic housing and residential and retail amenities.

The East Avenue name honors the road now known as Interstate 35 that casts shadows over Concordia's campus; I-35 replaced East Avenue when it was built in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

When Concordia is gone, it will be gone: The East Avenue Town Center would replace every building that Concordia has built over the past 80 years.

The village would represent Austin's every demographic inch, Sarwal said: "I want this to have a little bit of everything. Take the fabric of Austin and weave it into this site. You can live here, you can eat here, you can walk your dog, there's leisure time. That's the vision."

At least one Austin swimming coach is skeptical of the plan.

Randy Reese, a private swimming coach who has handled Olympians, said he doubts that a swim center of this scale could draw enough users year-round to cover costs. Even if it landed the Olympic trials, visitors would probably only be in Austin for 10 days, he said.

Reese, brother of UT swimming men's swimming coach Eddie Reese, said he thinks that UT would need to add its support. There are about 12 potential Olympic swimmers in Austin, including at UT, but he said, there are probably already enough pools for all the athletes.

"I don't know how you make it function without it being a huge financial loss," Reese said. "I don't know how you can ever get enough people without the university being a huge occupant of that facility."

Sarwal said his East Avenue group is talking with Eddie Reese about a potential partnership with UT. The group also is talking with St. David's HealthCare, a next-door neighbor to Concordia, and the Seton Healthcare Network about potential partnerships, he said.

But the swim center still hinges on what some may consider Concordia's surprising choice of the Schlumberger land after almost 1 1/2 years of considering more than 30 sites, including in Round Rock, Manor and near Pflugerville.

Concordia, which wants to move within two years, doesn't have the land under contract and is hustling to negotiate an agreement over the next several weeks with the Lionstone Group, University President Tom Cedel said.

Concordia is one of about 30 other entities competing for the former Schlumberger site, said Dan Dubrowski, founding partner and principal with the Lionstone Group, a real estate investment firm.

"There's no deal, but there are discussions," Dubrowski said of Concordia.

The Schlumberger campus includes a 250-acre wildlife preserve and six furnished buildings with about 200,000 square feet of space, including a cafeteria.

Concordia officials say they would build new facilities as well.

The Austin address and enormous tract would be ideal for a university concerned about cherishing its history while moving forward, officials say. The 1,200-student university, with record enrollments, is hemmed in on all sides at its current location.

"Those things are going along favorably," Cedel said of negotiations. "The advantages for us are having some structures in place already. We want to bring this to a conclusion."