The home of the U.S. Open, the National Tennis Center in Queens, is set to get a $500 million facelift, Crain’s reported. The renovation plans include the reconstruction of two stadiums and the addition of seating for the annual Grand Slam. The U.S. Tennis Association hopes to start construction in 2013 and complete all the upgrades by 2018.
Construction will help accommodate an extra 10,000 people per day during the two-week Grand Slam on top of the current average total attendance of 700,000. Louis Armstrong Stadium, set to be rebuilt on its current 125,000-square-foot parcel, will have 50 percent more seating for 15,000 total seats. The Grandstand, on the other hand, will move to the southwest corner from the property’s east side and grow by 2,000 seats.
The renovations will make the stadium complex grow by about one acre, as the Grandstand’s move and expansion will add 12,000 square feet and free up 33,000 more. There will also be an addition of retail, administrative and parking spaces, Crain’s said. [Crain’s]