College Athletics Construction Roundup: January 2015

Happy New Year – We hope everyone has a great 2015!  The “College Athletics Construction Roundup” is a monthly series on the construction of intercollegiate athletics facilities. Each month we’ll provide a list of announced, in progress and recently completed athletic construction projects from around the country. You can view previous editions of the “College Athletics Construction Roundup” here.

Football

Florida Atlantic received a $16 million donation to be used towards The Schmidt Family Complex: a new athletic facility to be used primarily by the football program. The facility will include an academic center, larger weight room and more spacious locker room. The project is expected to cost between $45 and $50 million.

Missouri will build a new football complex in the south end zone of Memorial Stadium. The facility will include office space, a weight room and locker room.

Cincinnati held the topping off ceremony for the new West Pavilion at Nippert Stadium. The $86 million project is on schedule to be completed in time for the 2015 season. The renovation is expected to increase capacity to 40,000, including additional premium seating.

Oregon State announced a $42 million project to expand and renovate the Valley Football Center. The 55,000 square-foot project will include the expansion of the football locker room, equipment room and training facility.

Texas Tech will build a $1.65 ticket office and fan engagement center on the first floor of the Jones AT&T Stadium east building. The school will also spend $3.75 million to renovate the stadium’s north end zone building. This project will add premium seating and food areas.

Kansas State’s renovation of the north end zone complex is on schedule to be completed before the beginning of the 2015 football season. The project features new locker rooms, team spaces and offices.

Western Michigan plans to raise $3 million and replace the scoreboard in Waldo Stadium. The project is expected to be complete in time for the 2015 football season.

Penn State is planning $12 million in renovations and branding upgrades to the Lasch Football Building. The school plans to emulate other schools like Oregon and Oklahoma State as it upgrades the player locker room, nutrition bar, equipment room and meeting rooms.

Miami (OH) received the lead gift for the planned Gunlock Family Performance Center. The facility will feature a weight room, football locker room, hydrotherapy area and coaches’ office space.

Utah State is planning a renovation to Romney Stadium. The project will include a premium seating and press box structure in the west stands, new video boards and a new public address system.

Rice trustees approved a $44.5 million project to build a two-story facility at the south end of Rice Stadium. The 80,000 square-foot facility will include training and locker rooms, a sports medicine center for all student athletes, coaching office space and the Rice Athletic Hall of Fame.

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Basketball

Sacramento State’s student body rejected a $438 fee increase to help pay for a new on-campus arena.  The $125 million arena would have hosted the school’s basketball teams and other events and concerts on campus. The fee increase would have raised the university’s fees to sixth highest in the California State University system.

Akron is exploring renovations to the James A. Rhodes Arena. Even if the City of Akron constructs a new arena, the school has determined upgrades are needed to the JAR. Improvements are likely to occur in phases to spread out the costs of the projects.

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Olympic / Other Sports

Baylor dedicated its new $18 million Clyde Hart Track and Field Stadium. The facility will accommodate 5,000 spectators and participants. Features include a training center and indoor practice facility, a 6,000 square-foot team clubhouse area and a 10,000 square-foot building containing hydrotherapy pools, training rooms and office space.

Michigan State has installed a new video scoreboard in Munn Arena. The $900,000 project also includes two ribbon-style scoreboards and four non-video scoreboards.

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Academic & Multi-Use Facilities

Central Michigan will build an $8 million complex at the Mount Pleasant campus. The facility will host the women’s soccer and women’s lacrosse programs. Construction will start in spring 2015 with completion expected by the fall season.

Louisville has raised the necessary funds to begin construction of the $14.5 million Thorntons Academic Center of Excellence. The 40,000 square-foot facility will feature tutorial areas, computer labs and classroom space for student athletes from all 23 sports. Construction will run through the Fall of 2016.

This fall, UMass Lowell opened its new academic center as part of a $3 million renovation to the Costello Athletic Center. The space features computers, sound-proof study rooms and a team meeting room.

LSU will build the new $12 million Tiger Athletics Nutrition Center on the site of old Alex Box Stadium. The 22,500 square-foot facility will be an athletes-only dining hall and will teach healthy eating habits and food preparation in addition to feeding the athletes.

Texas will launch the Center for Sports Leadership and Innovation. The center will help develop student athletes with programs such as financial literacy, drawing on the experience of financial professionals and former professional athletes.

Wichita State plans to build a student services building to the southeast of Koch Arena. The building will house academic and compliance offices, computer labs and study areas. Locker rooms, coaching offices and a weight room for use by some of the school’s Olympic sports would also move to the new building.

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Other Notes of Interest

Addressing fan engagement concerns, Wisconsin spent $6.5 million over the summer to upgrade the Wi-Fi connectivity in Camp Randall Stadium. AT&T installed 750 access points to create one of the ‘densest’ Wi-Fi systems in the country.

Have a project you’d like to submit for next month? Email us here.