$30 million IMS makeover: Update features, keep historic feel

Like any good host, Indianapolis Motor Speedway is redecorating for its biggest party ever, the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 in 2016.

Officials replaced the scoring pylon last year and video boards last month. The next phase is a biggie, more than $30 million worth of improvements, The Indianapolis Star has learned.

The roundabout that recently connected four city streets outside Turn 1 will gain a plaza with a wing-shaped art structure, bricks and accents in Speedway green, commonly known as forest green. The designer called the area IMS' new "Kodak moment" location.

And that's just the start.

The iconic front straightaway grandstand dating to the track's opening in 1909 will get a giant makeover. The more than 13,000 seats in the upper deck of Stands A, B and E, plus the Paddock Penthouse, will be removed and replaced; so will the roof. Gone will be the support columns that impede views of the track.

On the competition side, the catch fence will be replaced, too. The changes are all part of Project 100, a public/private partnership to renovate IMS. Work begins in August after the motorcycle racing event.

Track president Doug Boles said the goal is to make the changes blend in, which explains the use of Jonathan Hess, the Indianapolis-based architect who designed the pagoda, media center, trackside garages and pagoda plaza that debuted in 2000.

"We're not replacing the stadium; we're renovating the stadium," Boles said Friday. "If you don't do it right the character of the place changes.

"If you tore down Wrigley Field, would it still be Wrigley Field? We want this to remain Indianapolis Motor Speedway as we know it – keeping everything on the same footprint."

In place of the current folding chairs and aluminum bleachers in the penthouse sections will be stadium seating with cup holders. There will be better access to stairways plus proper concession stands and restrooms. Elevators will allow for ADA-compliant seating. WiFi will be available, too.

Current ticket holders will keep their seat location.

"You want people to feel these were 'my dad's seats' or 'my grandpa's seats,' or the seats from 'my first (500),'" Boles said. "That's an important connection to retain."

A bonus: The number of seats in the upper deck will increase by about 2,100 with the addition of three top-level rows, bringing the total upstairs seat count to 15,150.

"It's a big undertaking, $30 million plus," said Mark Miles, CEO of Hulman Motorsports, which owns IMS and the IndyCar Series.

IMS staff and its partners must move quickly. With winter factored in, the construction timeline is about five months, and that could still include new seats for the lower portion of the aforementioned stands. If that happens, seat replacement will swell to more than 86,000, including the 2,160 seats in the Hulman Terrace Suites.

The vendors are being coordinated by Michael Browning, the chairman of Visit Indy and a longtime civic leader. Fink, Roberts & Petrie, a structural engineering company, Hunt Construction and CSO Architects also are major players in the project.

Hess, the president of Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects, said it is a delicate balance to move IMS forward while staying true to its structural past.

"It needs to look like we improved things, and we need it to make it fit in a respectful way," he said.

Hess is particularly excited about the Turn 1 entrance, which will feature the single vertical element inspired by motro sports aerodynamics. He expects the plaza to be a natural gathering place.

"People like to make memories," he said, "and that will be a good place to make them 365 days a year."

Other entrances along Georgetown Road also will be spruced up with signs and modest landscaping, Hess said.

The paddock was originally built in 1911, and it went to a steel-and-concrete structure in 1946. The current version was built as a double-decked section in 1961, enlarged in 1977 and renovated from 1995-98.

Stand A traces its roots to the track's opening in 1909; it was the track's first grandstand. The current version was built in 1951, and it was remodeled in 1989 and renovated a decade later.

Stand B was the track's second grandstand, originally built in 1910. The current version was built in 1954 with a renovation that started in 2003.

Originally built in 1914, Stand E became the track's first double-decked section in 1949, and it was completed four years later. Its last renovation of the 12,888 seats was in 1999.

"I think it will look different," Boles said of the revamped IMS. "But one of the things that makes the Speedway special is that it looks like the old Speedway.

"We think the elements are really going to tie together to give it that industrial feel we expect of the Speedway."

Follow Star reporter Curt Cavin on Twitter: @curtcavin.