The Breslin Center is where Spartan basketball plays its home games, where graduates cross the stage, and where mid-Michigan comes for concerts and touring shows. A building that hosts all of that has to work for a sellout crowd one night and an empty concourse the next morning.
The arena has deep roots at PBA. When it opened in 1989, its design team included Giffels, Hoyem, Basso, the firm where Pete Basso practiced before founding PBA. Nearly three decades later, Michigan State brought PBA back for the building's largest renovation.
In 2013, MSU identified the critical repairs, maintenance, and upgrades the building needed. The work that followed replaced chiller units, upgraded mechanical and electrical systems, and added safety, security, and sustainability measures. Concourses and concession areas were expanded, restrooms improved, elevators upgraded, and entrances renewed.
At the center of the project is a 26,000-square-foot addition on the arena's southeast side. It houses the MSU Basketball Hall of History, which celebrates the men's and women's programs, along with a new strength and conditioning center.
Coming back to a building decades later is familiar work for PBA. At the Breslin, it meant keeping a 1989 arena ready for its next generation of game nights.
