James A. Rhodes Arena, commonly nicknamed "The JAR," is a basketball arena in Akron, Ohio on the campus of the University of Akron named for former Ohio governor Jim Rhodes. The arena opened in 1983 and is home to the Akron Zips men's and women's basketball teams and women's volleyball team. The new facility was six years in the making. Some delays were encountered after the General Assembly, in 1977, appropriated $8 million for the construction of a 10,000-seat building for the 1977-79 biennium. However, by October 1978, when preliminary plans for the new complex were presented and accepted by the Ohio Board of Regents, construction costs had risen so rapidly that it required $12.5 million to complete the project. After scrapping the original design, the University decided to go ahead with plans for a scaled-down version of the building. The 125,538-square-foot (11,662.9 m²) building, including an 18,000-square-foot (1,700 m²) wood floor, was designed by architect Thomas T. K. Zung. The University Board of Trustees approved the new version in July 1981, and ground breaking occurred on March 8, 1982. The building first opened on December 3, 1983 replacing the University's 3,000 seat Memorial Hall gymnasium located right next door.