Save Mart Center, multi-purpose arena on the Fresno State campus, Fresno, United States
Save Mart Center is a multi-purpose arena on the Fresno State campus in Fresno, California. Its light grey facade is divided by vertical pilasters, with "SAVE MART CENTER" in large dark letters on the upper right and rows of dark windows below. The building has three main levels and a 37 m Larry A. Shehadey Clock Tower.
An open house was held on November 5, 2003, and the official ribbon cutting followed on November 27, 2003. Save Mart Supermarkets paid US$40 million for 20-year naming rights, and total construction costs exceeded US$100 million, making it the largest privately funded complex of any university in the United States at completion. The first athletic event was a women's NCAA volleyball match between Hawaii and Fresno State in October 2003.
The bronze bulldog at the Shehadey Lobby, cast by the Visalia foundry EMI, stands 3 m high and weighs 1,905 kg. Its plaque reads: "This is our mascot and he ain't no hound. He's an English bull and weighs lots of pounds." Nine time capsules were sealed in its base in early 2004, to be opened in 2054.
The arena sits on the Fresno State campus, with the main concourse level holding 32 revenue suites and eight party suites. The southeast entrance opens into the Shehadey Lobby, named for Elayne Shehadey, and the Bulldog Shop is in the northeast lobby. The 93-foot Shehadey Clock Tower marks the exterior and helps with orientation.
The Bulldog Walkway on the arena's north side begins with three tiles honouring Fresno State alumni killed in 2001 and 2003: Colonel Rick Husband of the Space Shuttle Columbia, Lieutenant Commander Otis Vincent Tolbert, killed at the Pentagon, and Todd Morgan Beamer of United Airlines Flight 93. The walkway is meant to extend across campus.
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