Thursday, November 13, 2008
Construction continues on schedule for the $38 million project that will provide a 11,600 square-foot basketball practice facility near Allen Fieldhouse. The project also includes renovations and new locker rooms and offices for several other sports.
Associate Athletics Director Jim Marchiony said construction was on pace to finish in time for the start of next year’s basketball season in October.
A $38 million project that includes a new basketball practice facility and locker rooms for other sports is underway. This graphic rendering shows what the athletics facility will look like when it is completed
The practice facility will have similar lighting and flooring to that of the Fieldhouse and will feature a court-and-a-half setup with seven basketball goals. Center court from the 2008 Final Four floor will hang on the wall, and banners celebrating championships and all-American players will hang from the ceiling.
“This will be a whole different place come next October,” coach Bill Self said. “You won’t even recognize it. It’s going to be the coolest place in the country, I really believe, from a facilities standpoint.”
In addition to the basketball facility, the project includes renovations to Allen Fieldhouse that will begin in March. It will also provide new locker rooms for sports that currently share with other teams. Baseball, soccer, volleyball, track and field and cross country are among the other sports that will benefit from the project. A donor atrium will also be built in the space between the Fieldhouse and Horejsi Family Athletics Center.
“It helps the other sports because it provides more space for them,” Marchiony said. “Space that they really need.”
In addition, a new academic center will be built with computer labs and areas for student-athletes to study with tutors and work on homework.
Construction also includes an academic center in the front section of the second level of the Anschutz Football pavilion, Self said. The center will measure between 15,000 and 20,000 square feet and will connect to Anderson, making it all one big complex.
The goal of the project is indeed to connect all five buildings — Wagnon Student Athlete Center, Horejsi Family Athletics Center, Anschutz Sports Pavilion, the Fieldhouse and the new practice facility. Both basketball teams currently have to go outside between their locker rooms and practice at Horejsi.
The basketball teams also share practice times at Horejsi and the Fieldhouse, but have to juggle practice schedules to allow the main tenent of the building — the volleyball team — to have the gym when needed. The new facility will allow for more manageable practice times and will help ease the scheduling problems.
“Sometimes it’s a burden on the kids, having to practice early in the mornings and stuff,” women’s basketball coach Bonnie Henrickson said. “It’s been manageable, but it will be a lot more convenient and student-athlete friendly once we get the third facility.”
The project is scheduled to be completed on Oct. 15, 2009.
— - Edited by Becka Cremer
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