The project: After receiving a generous donation from two long-standing benefactors, the University of St. Thomas sought to construct a new multi-use, on-campus arena to house it’s NCAA Division 1 men’s and women’s hockey and basketball programs. The four-story facility is designed to house a main arena for both sports, training facilities, and supplemental functions/events for the University and broader community.

The goal: Because the university’s basketball and hockey programs had been elevated from NCAA Division III to Division I, the need for a new facility to properly support games, training, and associated functions became a priority.

Project amenities: The resulting complex is comprised of a 4,000-seat arena that can transition from a basketball court to an ice rink, training and conditioning facilities for men’s and women’s athletics, basketball practice facility, coaches office suite, student athlete support services, equipment services, and more.

Challenge: The large arena needed the ability to switch quickly between a basketball court and ice rink. Solution: IMEG was tasked with designing both the ice refrigeration and HVAC systems, which included ammonia refrigeration with desiccant dehumidification. These systems were designed to operate seamlessly together, efficiently transitioning from a hockey game to a basketball game.

Sustainable goals: In order to help meet the university’s goals of a LEED Silver facility, while also abiding by applicable design standards and local construction codes, IMEG engineers were able to re-design the campus electrical and mechanical utilities to provide the necessary power and systems to the new arena, as well as providing continued coverage to other surrounding campus buildings.

Project outcome: The design-build project, led by Ryan Companies, was completed in Fall 2025. The university remains the only university in NCAA history to move directly from Divsion III to Division I.