The University of St. Thomas, supported by the largest single private monetary donation ever to a Minnesota college or university, unveiled plans today for a $175 million multi-purpose arena on campus for its hockey teams and women’s and men’s basketball.
The $75 million lead gift from longtime UST benefactors Lee and Penny Anderson surpassed the old record of $60 million, which they contributed in 2007 for the construction of the student center and the UST athletic and recreation complex.
The Lee and Penny Anderson Arena will hold approximately 4,000 patrons for hockey, 5,000 for basketball and 6,000 for concerts and university commencements, according to UST Athletics Director Phil Esten. Plans include an auxiliary ice rink and separate women’s and men’s basketball practice facilities.
The school expects to break ground in the spring of 2024 and open the building by the fall of 2025. The Kasota Limestone exterior of the arena and the classic Collegiate Gothic architecture will match other buildings on campus.
“I’ve always been sports-minded, so the idea of a new arena in St. Thomas resonated with me from the very beginning,” said Lee Anderson, owner and chairman of API Group, Inc. who played football and basketball at West Point in the late 1950s and early 1960s. “My wife and I felt that the first contribution we made there, for the student center and the rest, turned out so well that we would like to do something further as long as we can. This seemed to be perfect.”
Esten said Anderson’s gift puts the school 60% toward its fundraising goal of $131 million. If donations fall short, new UST President Rob Vischer said the university will finance the rest. The cost of the project includes the demolition of three buildings on the UST South Campus in San Paul to make room for the arena – McCarthy Gym, an intramural facility; Cretin Residence Hall, built in 1895 and remodeled in 1989; and service center.
Even before the NCAA approved UST’s unprecedented move from Division III to Division I in 2020, the university knew it needed a new facility for men’s and women’s hockey. Both play in the ice arena of St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights, which has about 1,000, easily the smallest in each team’s respective conference.
Esten said UST added basketball to the plan last July after abandoning efforts to build the arena in the Highland Bridge development in Highland Park. Men’s and women’s basketball play on campus in the 1,800-capacity Schoenecker Arena, one of the Summit League’s smallest venues. Both teams need more seats to generate additional revenue and attract better non-conference opponents.
“As we pivoted from Highland Bridge and looked at bringing hockey to campus, we looked really hard at whether it would work for basketball as well,” Esten said. “We just thought it made financial sense, and it was economically prudent to double that and make sure those facilities are used efficiently.”
Courtesy of St. Thomas A rendering of the Grand Avenue entrance to the Lee and Penny Anderson Arena. Esten said he has spoken with builders and operators of multi-purpose college arenas at Wisconsin (Kohl Center), Ohio State (Schottenstein Center), Arizona State (the newly opened Mullett Arena), Nebraska-Omaha (Baxter Arena) and Boston College (Conte Forum) to learn more about construction and land conversion. He added that the new arena will not be strictly for UST events.
Rendering of the Grand Avenue entrance to the Lee and Penny Anderson Arena.
“We’re filling a void in the Twin Cities,” Esten said. “There really is no other 5,000-seat venue. Whether it’s state high school hockey or basketball, conventions, campus convocation, commencement or job fairs, I think it’s going to be a pretty popular place.”
Vischer, formerly the dean of UST’s law school, believes the arena will raise the university’s national profile in athletics and help it attract more students from outside of Minnesota. He is happy that the Andersons wanted to help.
“Obviously we stay in close contact with Lee and Penny Anderson, because they are major and longtime benefactors of the university,” Vischer said. “We always want to make sure they understand the vision, the trajectory, what we are doing and why we are doing it. As they learned more about this project, they became more interested, and jumped in big.”
The Andersons’ interest in St. Thomas began more than 30 years ago with their Minneapolis neighbors, John and Cheryl O’Shaughnessy. John O’Shaughnessy, who died in 2020, was the grandson of famous UST alumnus and philanthropist I.A. O’Shaughnessy, whose name adorns the library, football stadium and other campus buildings.
“So we knew a lot about St. Thomas that he was still going there with both of them,” said Lee Anderson, 83. “We love him.”
Lee Anderson later struck up a friendship with Reverend Dennis Dease, the former president of UST. “We were great friends going back to the O’Shaughnessy days,” he said. “Part of the reason we made such a generous gift is because of Fr. Death. He is truly an excellent gentleman.”
