toddc 13,194 Posted September 4, 2019 Share Posted September 4, 2019 May need to be merged! Auburn will soon seek approval for football-only complex ByBRANDON MARCELLO 60 minutes ago Share2 Comments AUBURN, Alabama — The ball is rolling on a football-only complex at Auburn. Auburn athletics' department will seek formal initiation of the project at the university's quarterly meeting of the board of trustees Sept. 13, according to documents obtained by Auburn Undercover. A price tag for the facility will not be announced at the meeting, a source tells Auburn Undercover, and the design phase is not yet underway. Should the facilities committee and the board of trustees approve initiation of the project, the athletics department will move forward to the design phase. Auburn is referring to the project as the "football performance center." The long-discussed project reached a turning point behind the scenes in May,sources told Auburn Undercover at the time. Fundraising had or was expected to soon hit the halfway mark of a tentatively-set estimate of a $60 million price tag for the facility. Dan King, associated vice president of facilities at Auburn University, and athletics director Allen Greene will present plans for a football performance center and seek approval from the property and facilities committee to initiate the first steps of the project. The committee meets Sept. 13 at 8:30 a.m. The board of trusteees will meet at 10 a.m. and will have final approval. “We’re really, really close and we’re in a really good spot with what we’ve been asked to do from a fundraising perspective,” Greene said in May. “The board, I think, is really interested and engaged with this project, and they want to have a better understanding of scale and scope of other folks in the [SEC] and to help us better understand and better plan as we move forward with our plans for our project.” Greene has made it a priority to raise funds and pitch the football-only facility to boosters and alumni since he replaced Jay Jacobs as Auburn’s athletics director in February 2018. Auburn coach Gus Malzahn pledged $2 million toward the facility in September 2018, and several notable alumni have also promised sizable donations, Auburn Undercover has learned. Greene told Auburn Undercover in February he expected the timeline for the facility — from the design phase to its grand opening — to be completed in three years or less should the board approve all of the necessary steps along the way. Should that happen, Auburn will begin the largest construction project for the athletics department since Auburn Arena opened its doors in 2010. The basketball arena cost $86 million. The design phase for the football facility should encompass one year, and construction will require an additional year. Administrators in the athletics department grew increasingly confident in March and April as fundraising efforts ramped up under Greene, sources told Auburn Undercover at the time (March 27 and April 24). “We’re still tracking on a pretty aggressive timeline,” Greene said in May. “And we expect to continue to track on that aggressive timeline.” It’s not clear if a location for the facility has been finalized, but the most likely spot appears to be near the corner of Biggio Drive and Samford Avenue, where the old outdoor track is located on campus. The piece of land is in the heart of the athletics hub of the university. Only Biggio Drive separates the old track from the football practice facilities attached to the Auburn Athletics Complex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
logan adams 333 Posted September 4, 2019 Share Posted September 4, 2019 Heard this narrative before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Plainsman 948 Posted September 4, 2019 Share Posted September 4, 2019 Vote to decide if want to vote on it later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RunInRed 16,438 Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 I've always thought a premier spot would be where BEMC still sits ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToomersStreet 795 Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 Past time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keesler 5,926 Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 I am so happy to hear this thing is finally ready to get going. It feels like it's taken so long to materialize. Way to go AU! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeek 16,657 Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 20 hours ago, toddc said: A price tag for the facility will not be announced at the meeting, a source tells Auburn Undercover, and the design phase is not yet underway. Are you flippin' kidding me??? How in the hell are we not at least settling on a budget and having designs rendered? You can figure that out before approval. Dear God this is so agitating. 16 hours ago, logan adams said: Heard this narrative before. Right? This couldn't move any slower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredst 9,064 Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 JABA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keesler 5,926 Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 1 hour ago, Zeek said: Are you flippin' kidding me??? How in the hell are we not at least settling on a budget and having designs rendered? You can figure that out before approval. Dear God this is so agitating. This is just how the Auburn PTB & Administration operate, they slow as molasses in January. I think the article is incorrect. How has Greene been fundraising for so long if he hasn't been working from a budgeted expense amount? From what WDEWDE posted some months ago on here, over 75% of the total cost of the project has already been raised. Yet Greene mentioned back in January that fundraising efforts were tough because of that crappy '18 season. It was rumored that the hold up for some of the PTB was they want to see how the team rebounds this year. It can't be easy to sign off on a huge project like this while your HC keeps his tail on the hot seat and he has a +$26MM buyout on the table. But it shouldn't matter who the coach is, if AU needs it to attempt to even try to catch up with our main rivals, then just DO IT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalkingCarpet 1,379 Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 14 hours ago, RunInRed said: I've always thought a premier spot would be where BEMC still sits ... I think the spot the FOF is going will be the old track on the hill, but it's really time to do something with BEMC. That thing has sat almost vacant for a decade in the middle of campus looking like something out of the 1980s Soviet Union. Texas A&M has Comrade Blocker, we have Comrade Cheese Wheel. I can't imagine the long term plan is to have it remain there. It's past time to either put in something better or turn it into parking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dual-Threat Rigby 8,682 Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 it's used for various departments and organizations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RunInRed 16,438 Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 5 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said: it's used for various departments and organizations Yes, but that should be solvable ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RunInRed 16,438 Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 Back to topic ... from a design/requirements perspective, who would you call the benchmark? Recent examples: Clemson - $55M Northwestern - $270M Oregon - $68M Florida State - $60M Michigan - $168M Oklahoma - $160M South Carolina - $50M Texas A&M - $20M (Renovation) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oracle79 3,569 Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 33 minutes ago, RunInRed said: who would you call the benchmark? Don't screw around - be the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUsince72 11,084 Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 I'm partial to this one. Note: Half of it's even for sale. I'll bet the PTB at AU could swing a budget to purchase both halves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AuCivilEng1 11,012 Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 16 hours ago, RunInRed said: I've always thought a premier spot would be where BEMC still sits ... I have a dream that there will be a mega parking garage built where Beard Eaves is. It would help on Gameday and it would help students. Student parking is awful on campus these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rdgeneration 6,469 Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 59 minutes ago, AUsince72 said: I'm partial to this one. Note: Half of it's even for sale. I'll bet the PTB at AU could swing a budget to purchase both halves. Pretty sure that Dorian wiped this building out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keesler 5,926 Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 23 minutes ago, AuCivilEng1 said: I have a dream that there will be a mega parking garage built where Beard Eaves is. It would help on Gameday and it would help students. Student parking is awful on campus these days. I think they are trying to make campus a pedestrian campus only. They've been shrinking student parking for years, and the parking decals for very limited spaces run $350/yr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAG 33,997 Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 2 hours ago, RunInRed said: Back to topic ... from a design/requirements perspective, who would you call the benchmark? Recent examples: Clemson - $55M Northwestern - $270M Oregon - $68M Florida State - $60M Michigan - $168M Oklahoma - $160M South Carolina - $50M Texas A&M - $20M (Renovation) I like OU. It is hard to believe that is the best Northwestern could do with that budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopsing 584 Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 1 hour ago, AUsince72 said: I'm partial to this one. Note: Half of it's even for sale. I'll bet the PTB at AU could swing a budget to purchase both halves. I mean, it’s got potential! LOFL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steeleagle 2,945 Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 I like Clemson's visual. I really hope we don't make it look like every other building on campus. Brick and concrete only..NO. Lot's of glass and lots of lighting and lots of visuals seen from the outside. I think it needs to be functional but eye appealing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gr82be 14,442 Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 1 hour ago, steeleagle said: I like Clemson's visual. I really hope we don't make it look like every other building on campus. Brick and concrete only..NO. Lot's of glass and lots of lighting and lots of visuals seen from the outside. I think it needs to be functional but eye appealing. Nothing says football, well, like a football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CR 2,446 Posted September 6, 2019 Share Posted September 6, 2019 The price tag on some of those buildings is unbelievable. Better hope for something comparable to the ones with a similar budget. Seems Clemson’s was all the rage for a few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beaker 2,457 Posted September 6, 2019 Share Posted September 6, 2019 I vote for a front like Clemsons, but 3 stories tall and butt that thing up next to the stadium or where the old coliseum sits. OU's looks pretty impressive. We are years behind and need to build for the future. Let's make a splash push those recruiting classes into the top 5. PLEASE Someone should have told Oregon that the 60's look is not 'back in'. Reminds me of Parker Hall. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
autigeremt 6,652 Posted September 6, 2019 Share Posted September 6, 2019 BEMC is still being used for class space so it may be awhile before it’s gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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