The COVID-19 pandemic has stopped many things dead in their path and slowed others to a crawl but Georgia’s expansion to its football facility appears to be humming right along. According to a video released via the program’s official Twitter account, the bulk of the framework is already in place.
The facility will sit adjacent to the $30.2 million indoor practice facility and carries a price tag of approximately $80 million, half of which is being raised via private donations. It’ll feature new lounging areas for the players, a new locker room, new and expanded meeting rooms, new coaches offices, and a new weight room/workout facility that has a small turf field running down the middle of it.
The program has been quite busy with construction projects since Kirby Smart became first. The indoor practice facility, named after Porter and Billy Payne and referenced as ‘The House of Payne,’ came first. Then it was the addition of a recruiting lounge, a locker room, and enhanced concourses in the west end of Sanford Stadium. That project was $63 million. Now it’s the expansion and renovation of the football facility which will happen in two phases.
Expected completion for phase one is April of 2021. Phase two is expected to wrap up in January of 2022.
The new weight room is expected to increase the number of lifting platforms from 16 to 32 and it will also double in size from 11,000 square feet to 21,900. There’ll also be a strip of turf running through the new weight room on head strength and conditioning coach Scott Sinclair’s request. The number of showering areas in the new locker room is also expected to double. The site will be where Georgia’s upper grass practice field is currently located, adjacent to the indoor facility.
A nutrition facility is also included as well as an all-purpose room to set up tables and host recruits at the football hub. It’ll include a new team meeting room and 11 individual meeting rooms, one for each of the 10 assistant coaches and another for the scout team.
During construction for the project, Georgia will lose the services of one of it’s two lower grass fields. The one closest to Lumpkin Street will be out of commission but the oe one perpendicular to the indoor facility will be operational and the team will be able to move back and forth between the indoor and grass field.
The future is coming into focus ???#ATD #GoDawgs pic.twitter.com/3kmbXMKyxT
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