Auburn Board of Trustees approves $16.5 million indoor practice facility
MONTGOMERY—The Auburn Board of Trustees this morning approved the immediate construction of a $16.5 million, 92,000-square-foot indoor practice facility that will help the Auburn football team keep up with its SEC counterparts not only on the practice field, but on the recruiting trail as well.
The building’s main attraction is a 100-yard football field, something that has been desired for years. Auburn will become the seventh school in the SEC to acquire a full-sized, indoor practice facility, joining Alabama, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Arkansas, LSU and Kentucky.
Inifinity Architecture of Montgomery will serve as design consultants and Robins and Morton Construction of Birmingham was chosen as the construction manager. The first $10 million for the project will be funded from bond loans through the university, though it’s expected the entire bill will be covered by gifts and charitable donations to the athletic department.
Auburn wants to open the facility before the 2011 season.
The building will be attached to the James T. Tatum, Jr., Strength and Conditioning Center, running parallel to Samford Avenue.
The building, which will also feature a three-lane track, will be available for baseball, soccer, softball and track and field to practice when the weather is bad.
Football, though, will reap the largest benefits, as the new facility will replace Auburn’s current, undersized indoor practice field. Built in 1999, the John H. Watson Fieldhouse sits adjacent to the Auburn practice fields and houses a 40-yard artificial turf field. The facility, which measures 155 feet by 210 feet, has a heating system and is cooled by large fans.
The building is too small for a normal Auburn practice, which forces coaches to adjust the schedule and separate the offense and defense. Former coach Tommy Tuberville voiced his complaints about the building on a number of occasions, typically after a rain-shortened, indoor practice.
Auburn plans to renovate the facility into a strength and conditioning hub for Olympic sports.
In other sports-related items, the Trustees heard preliminary plans for life after Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum. The old basketball arena, replaced by the brand new Auburn Arena, will eventually be demolished and, among other possibilities, could become the site of a parking garage. The Board opted to make a decision at a later time, when the ideas are more clear cut.
The Board also approved a $72 million student wellness center. This will certainly affect sports fans, as the site of the building is located in the heart of Auburn’s athletic epicenter, stationed right next to the new Auburn Arena.
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