Page 2: "NEEDS: ...A competitive ACC and SEC recruiting facility"...
What?
No matter how they slice it, that part of campus is pretty packed. I actually think they should eliminate the current tennis courts, and add new ones where the tennis center is and add a roller hockey rink up there. Block Washington St. all the way up to Cassell/Airport Rd. That road is dangerous anyway and impassible any time classes are changing.
On a side note, does anyone else think we should change the name of the road the stadium is located on? Spring Rd? How about Stadium Lane? Who didn't think of this?
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Page 2: "NEEDS: ...A competitive ACC and SEC recruiting facility"...
What?
My guess is that means the new facility (1) must be on par with others in the conference and (2) must be comparable to similar facilities in the most successful conference. Both points sound like recruiting tools to me. Be as good (or better) than the guys you play all the time, and similarly competitive with the best in the nation.
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On a side note, does anyone else think we should change the name of the road the stadium is located on? Spring Rd? How about Stadium Lane? Who didn't think of this?
I've heard rumors they plan on renaming it after Beamer as soon as he retires.
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Virginia Tech has a rule that buildings (and I assume roads) cannot be named after current faculty, so bank on a name change after Beamer retires.
Now for enough donated money, they can look the other way. The donor who put up the money for Torgersen Hall made it a requirement that they name it after Torg to get it. The BoV looked at 20+ million and said "Okay!"
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I'm not sure how this worked. I took Theory of Organization with Dr. Torgersen after Torgersen Hall had been built. Maybe he was a 'visiting' professor or some sort of...something else.
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They won't name anything after current employees. The guys that payed for the new locker room tried to name it after Beamer but the school wouldn't let them.
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I agree on the road name change. I grew up a hokie, came to games, lived in Pritchard (you can see it out the window!) and Cochrane while I was attending and still don't know that road's name if you asked me quickly. Should involve something with Lane or at least athletics, seeing as Cassell, Merriman, Lane, and Tech Softball Park are all off of that road.
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This may sound like a dumb question...but why can't it be located on the "old" practice field site (soccer field). Seems like its the right size, would be consistant visually with the athletic facitilties. Soccer would get a new field...potentially on the site of the old Rector site once the new one opens.
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Because the Rector site is not going away. Football borrows it when they need it from Track and Field. As part of this project, a couple million dollars go to fixing up the Rector Field House. There really isn't an ideal location that doesn't have something there already and isn't in Stadium Woods. I think the best bet is that it is built on the stadium lot. It's close enough, doesn't destroy the current practice fields, doesn't remove the tennis courts, just removes parking. They can add a bunch of spots up behind Chicken Hill to make up for the loss as well.
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If I am comprehending this right, you mean putting the practice facility on the parking lot in between Lane and Chicken Hill lot? That isn't an option that they had in the presentation, but I really like that idea.
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The Stadium Lot was one of the top 3, actually the highest scoring one. I believe the location they want is not right in the lot but rather down Southgate across the road that goes to the VTPD station. So at the corner of that road and Southgate, across from Chicken Hill, is where they are most likely going to build it. The drawback to that was the fact that it "doesn't fit the master plan" but who cares. It's on the outside of campus. It wouldn't ruin the tailgate scene that's in the stadium lot. The biggest loss is the fact that the lot they would remove was used for RVs and had some large, consistent tailgates for several years.
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I'm some what on the fence about the need for an indoor practice facility.
During Tech's Beamer-revival, they never had an indoor facility, and did just fine in stomping teams who came into Lane Stadium to play.
Is it truly necessary to have one? Is Tech doing this completely out of "keeping up with the Jones?"
I understand that it help sells recruits on the commitment with a glamorous dorm and practice facility, but part of me feel the cautionary tale of Florida's basketball team got locked out of their own plush facility because of the entitlement mentality that crept into the team applies here.
It is nice to have a dry environment and plenty of room for units to conduct their drills, stances, and whatnots instead of running into each other as it was reported from this past spring. I get that.
Of course, the location is the most tricky part of it all. I am not in favor of constructing the facility on the location of Stadium Wood. We need those oxygen from the trees on game day to keep screaming and take the hot air out of Lane at the same time. I am not an engineer, so I'll defer to others who can understand it better.
I guess what I am saying is this: I am somewhat in favor of having a facility as long as it is completely necessary and helps the team to be better prepared for Saturday. I am more worried about the cost and the possibility of entitlement infecting the program.
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Times are changing. Gibbs was famous for having outdoor practices in the snow and rain in the 80's and made his team tough because of it but was ridiculed for the same thing in the 2000's and the Redskins finally got their practice bubble built last year. The basketball practice facility was a must (I believe we were the last ACC team to get one). This is also a must. I have to imagine recruits from 757 and Florida are less than impressed with the weather in Blacksburg and this would help relieve some of those concerns.
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+1. I think the main factor is the recruits. Big time guys from Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, and other southern states have a hard time with the Blacksburg cold. Yes, we have to play in it, but having a place where they know they don't have to freeze their ass off every practice from October 20th on is a big draw for them. It is attractive to those guys from South Florida that we can pluck from Miami and FSU.
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I think the facility is going to be placed in then Southgate lot. Look how much thought they have put into it. Major downer, loss of parking spaces, but with donor parking in the basement and motor pool lot they end up with a surplus. The Decision board is already showing signs of being mentally invested in this one. Go on and build it.
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These spaces could be allocated to those with luxury boxes, the type of folks who aren't big tailgaters anyway. Covered parking would also help keep the Benzes, Caddys and BMWs cool during those sunny 1pm games too.
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Some of those trees are nearly 100 years old and host to a few rare species of birds that don't have much habitat left. In addition, the older a tree becomes, the more CO2 it draws from the air and converts to carbon for growth. It would require planting a large amount of new trees to balance out the carbon footprint of removing the old ones. Also, we are part of Tree Campus USA, which means we have made a conscious effort to prove that we care about this sort of thing. Yes we need an indoor practice facility, but not at the expense of campus woods, IMO.
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It's still a tree. I didn't know about the Tree Campus USA thing, and that would probably end up being the most likely reason it wouldn't happen. But I stick with the fact that it's just a tree.
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The entire campus is modeled for storm run off, and this model is with the state... they will require that the woods be in effect replicated to zero out the model when the building is done. Its a huge cost no one is talking about.
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Is there a reason they can't use the soccer field and the other fields that are right across Spring from Lane and relocate those fields farther south along Spring? Looks like there'd be plenty of space, they could use some of the rec fields for the new soccer fields, and just build a few more rec fields in the undeveloped fields at the south end of all of it.
The building would be close to the outdoor fields, and they could even put in a pedestrian bridge over Spring if they were worried about pedestrian safety. Those bridges aren't very expensive, and you could work some architectural treatments into it and make it look real nice and complimentary/gateway-ish. Maybe put plaques in honor of special Hokies, past players, notable alum's, etc.
Edited to add: I like the idea of preserving the Stadium Woods on campus. I know there are other old growth stands, etc., but I think having an old growth stand of trees specifically on campus is an enhancement compared to a lot of other universities.
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Those fields get a lot of use from women's and men's soccer and women's lacrosse. They have all their practices there and it's used for games on really wet days since its a turf field.
edit: also moving the fields to the rec fields could hurt recruiting. The walk to those fields isn't close and they would have to redo those fields to make them NCAA quality practice fields.
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Cassell houses pretty much every varsity sport and those fields are within walking distance for the teams. I know football is the money maker, but administrators have to look out for all of the sports. Recruiting is the driving force in pretty much every decision made by administration.
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Serioulsy, can we get past the "old growth" nonsense and stop worshipping plants? They are trees, they grow up, they grow old, they die and they fall down. New ones spring up and suddenly we have "new growth." Why can't we harvest them, plant 50 acres of new hardwoods somewhere else, and build where we need to build? I love forests just as much as most everyone else, and I have flown at low altitude over all of Virginia, and I can tell you that we still have lots of big, healthy forests. Plant a new forest twice the size of the stadium woods, and build the stupid facility there.
I know it will never happen that way, it just irks me to see common sense and good planning take a back seat to emotionalism and sentimentality. Oh well, let's choose the second best option and get it built. Unbelievable.
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I wish nothing more than for them to build this thing and get some recruits to check it out. But this is more than about tearing down old trees. Branding/recruiting is huge but not not pissing off half of Blacksburg is bigger. A parking lot is much easier to replace than the perception of the University.
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But saying that demolishing one of the most unique ecological sites in the area is "common sense and good planning" is a little short sighted. The stadium woods are LITERALLY irreplaceable. Just because you don't see any value in the stadium woods doesn't mean that there is no value there.
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i had a feeling this thread was gonna get all. . . .
for the record i'm in the put it somewhere else crowd. there are trees there that are over 300 years old, some pushing 400, older than blacksburg itself. the southgate lot doesnt hurt the storm runoff situation (building in the woods would) and the mitigation plan would create 70 more spots than there is already. put it there.
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The other thing that should be noted - even if they were to build a new facility on the stadium woods site, there would need to be significant grading and earth-moving. So in addition to removing some very old trees, there would be a big disturbance to the site.
So from a landscape architect's perspective, building the facility in the nearby lot minimizes the construction problems on the stadium woods site. Also, that gameday plaza would be a sweet addition! That would be a really cool feature for the general public and one that really isn't a possibility in many of the other locations due to space constraints.
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Comments
Page 2: "NEEDS: ...A competitive ACC and SEC recruiting facility"...
What?
No matter how they slice it, that part of campus is pretty packed. I actually think they should eliminate the current tennis courts, and add new ones where the tennis center is and add a roller hockey rink up there. Block Washington St. all the way up to Cassell/Airport Rd. That road is dangerous anyway and impassible any time classes are changing.
On a side note, does anyone else think we should change the name of the road the stadium is located on? Spring Rd? How about Stadium Lane? Who didn't think of this?
My guess is that means the new facility (1) must be on par with others in the conference and (2) must be comparable to similar facilities in the most successful conference. Both points sound like recruiting tools to me. Be as good (or better) than the guys you play all the time, and similarly competitive with the best in the nation.
I've heard rumors they plan on renaming it after Beamer as soon as he retires.
Virginia Tech has a rule that buildings (and I assume roads) cannot be named after current faculty, so bank on a name change after Beamer retires.
Now for enough donated money, they can look the other way. The donor who put up the money for Torgersen Hall made it a requirement that they name it after Torg to get it. The BoV looked at 20+ million and said "Okay!"
I'm not sure how this worked. I took Theory of Organization with Dr. Torgersen after Torgersen Hall had been built. Maybe he was a 'visiting' professor or some sort of...something else.
Did you not just read what he said? The primary donor made it a condition of their donation that the building be named Torgeson hall... money talks.
Whoa, cut him some slack. He's a horse...on a treadmill. Just be glad he didn't type:
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They won't name anything after current employees. The guys that payed for the new locker room tried to name it after Beamer but the school wouldn't let them.
I agree on the road name change. I grew up a hokie, came to games, lived in Pritchard (you can see it out the window!) and Cochrane while I was attending and still don't know that road's name if you asked me quickly. Should involve something with Lane or at least athletics, seeing as Cassell, Merriman, Lane, and Tech Softball Park are all off of that road.
Stadium Lane. STADIUM LN!
BRILLIANT!!
This may sound like a dumb question...but why can't it be located on the "old" practice field site (soccer field). Seems like its the right size, would be consistant visually with the athletic facitilties. Soccer would get a new field...potentially on the site of the old Rector site once the new one opens.
Because the Rector site is not going away. Football borrows it when they need it from Track and Field. As part of this project, a couple million dollars go to fixing up the Rector Field House. There really isn't an ideal location that doesn't have something there already and isn't in Stadium Woods. I think the best bet is that it is built on the stadium lot. It's close enough, doesn't destroy the current practice fields, doesn't remove the tennis courts, just removes parking. They can add a bunch of spots up behind Chicken Hill to make up for the loss as well.
If I am comprehending this right, you mean putting the practice facility on the parking lot in between Lane and Chicken Hill lot? That isn't an option that they had in the presentation, but I really like that idea.
The Stadium Lot was one of the top 3, actually the highest scoring one. I believe the location they want is not right in the lot but rather down Southgate across the road that goes to the VTPD station. So at the corner of that road and Southgate, across from Chicken Hill, is where they are most likely going to build it. The drawback to that was the fact that it "doesn't fit the master plan" but who cares. It's on the outside of campus. It wouldn't ruin the tailgate scene that's in the stadium lot. The biggest loss is the fact that the lot they would remove was used for RVs and had some large, consistent tailgates for several years.
Stadium Woods is the best site for it; could also provide convenient shelter in the event of inclement weather. Just build the damn facility already.
But that's the native habitat of the rare Exum. Where will he live?
This would get 1000 turkey legs if humanly possible... one of the best ever.
I'm some what on the fence about the need for an indoor practice facility.
During Tech's Beamer-revival, they never had an indoor facility, and did just fine in stomping teams who came into Lane Stadium to play.
Is it truly necessary to have one? Is Tech doing this completely out of "keeping up with the Jones?"
I understand that it help sells recruits on the commitment with a glamorous dorm and practice facility, but part of me feel the cautionary tale of Florida's basketball team got locked out of their own plush facility because of the entitlement mentality that crept into the team applies here.
It is nice to have a dry environment and plenty of room for units to conduct their drills, stances, and whatnots instead of running into each other as it was reported from this past spring. I get that.
Of course, the location is the most tricky part of it all. I am not in favor of constructing the facility on the location of Stadium Wood. We need those oxygen from the trees on game day to keep screaming and take the hot air out of Lane at the same time. I am not an engineer, so I'll defer to others who can understand it better.
I guess what I am saying is this: I am somewhat in favor of having a facility as long as it is completely necessary and helps the team to be better prepared for Saturday. I am more worried about the cost and the possibility of entitlement infecting the program.
Times are changing. Gibbs was famous for having outdoor practices in the snow and rain in the 80's and made his team tough because of it but was ridiculed for the same thing in the 2000's and the Redskins finally got their practice bubble built last year. The basketball practice facility was a must (I believe we were the last ACC team to get one). This is also a must. I have to imagine recruits from 757 and Florida are less than impressed with the weather in Blacksburg and this would help relieve some of those concerns.
+1. I think the main factor is the recruits. Big time guys from Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, and other southern states have a hard time with the Blacksburg cold. Yes, we have to play in it, but having a place where they know they don't have to freeze their ass off every practice from October 20th on is a big draw for them. It is attractive to those guys from South Florida that we can pluck from Miami and FSU.
Wake and Miami do not have indoor facilities
Wake isn't exactly a powerhouse, and Miami hardly needs any type of indoor facility.
I think the facility is going to be placed in then Southgate lot. Look how much thought they have put into it. Major downer, loss of parking spaces, but with donor parking in the basement and motor pool lot they end up with a surplus. The Decision board is already showing signs of being mentally invested in this one. Go on and build it.
Difficult to tailgate in a basement. Maybe that is the reason for the plaza? Will they allow tailgating there?
The tailgating situation would probably be the same as the parking garage, non-existent.
That's the way I would see it.
These spaces could be allocated to those with luxury boxes, the type of folks who aren't big tailgaters anyway. Covered parking would also help keep the Benzes, Caddys and BMWs cool during those sunny 1pm games too.
Tear down those stupid trees and put it up there. I promise, we'll plant some more.
Some of those trees are nearly 100 years old and host to a few rare species of birds that don't have much habitat left. In addition, the older a tree becomes, the more CO2 it draws from the air and converts to carbon for growth. It would require planting a large amount of new trees to balance out the carbon footprint of removing the old ones. Also, we are part of Tree Campus USA, which means we have made a conscious effort to prove that we care about this sort of thing. Yes we need an indoor practice facility, but not at the expense of campus woods, IMO.
It's still a tree. I didn't know about the Tree Campus USA thing, and that would probably end up being the most likely reason it wouldn't happen. But I stick with the fact that it's just a tree.
The entire campus is modeled for storm run off, and this model is with the state... they will require that the woods be in effect replicated to zero out the model when the building is done. Its a huge cost no one is talking about.
I'd rather tear your opinion down. Boo-urns.
Is there a reason they can't use the soccer field and the other fields that are right across Spring from Lane and relocate those fields farther south along Spring? Looks like there'd be plenty of space, they could use some of the rec fields for the new soccer fields, and just build a few more rec fields in the undeveloped fields at the south end of all of it.
The building would be close to the outdoor fields, and they could even put in a pedestrian bridge over Spring if they were worried about pedestrian safety. Those bridges aren't very expensive, and you could work some architectural treatments into it and make it look real nice and complimentary/gateway-ish. Maybe put plaques in honor of special Hokies, past players, notable alum's, etc.
Edited to add: I like the idea of preserving the Stadium Woods on campus. I know there are other old growth stands, etc., but I think having an old growth stand of trees specifically on campus is an enhancement compared to a lot of other universities.
Those fields get a lot of use from women's and men's soccer and women's lacrosse. They have all their practices there and it's used for games on really wet days since its a turf field.
edit: also moving the fields to the rec fields could hurt recruiting. The walk to those fields isn't close and they would have to redo those fields to make them NCAA quality practice fields.
Cassell houses pretty much every varsity sport and those fields are within walking distance for the teams. I know football is the money maker, but administrators have to look out for all of the sports. Recruiting is the driving force in pretty much every decision made by administration.
I still say the Stadium Woods is the best site for the facility.
Serioulsy, can we get past the "old growth" nonsense and stop worshipping plants? They are trees, they grow up, they grow old, they die and they fall down. New ones spring up and suddenly we have "new growth." Why can't we harvest them, plant 50 acres of new hardwoods somewhere else, and build where we need to build? I love forests just as much as most everyone else, and I have flown at low altitude over all of Virginia, and I can tell you that we still have lots of big, healthy forests. Plant a new forest twice the size of the stadium woods, and build the stupid facility there.
I know it will never happen that way, it just irks me to see common sense and good planning take a back seat to emotionalism and sentimentality. Oh well, let's choose the second best option and get it built. Unbelievable.
I wish nothing more than for them to build this thing and get some recruits to check it out. But this is more than about tearing down old trees. Branding/recruiting is huge but not not pissing off half of Blacksburg is bigger. A parking lot is much easier to replace than the perception of the University.
I'm all for an indoor practice facility...
But saying that demolishing one of the most unique ecological sites in the area is "common sense and good planning" is a little short sighted. The stadium woods are LITERALLY irreplaceable. Just because you don't see any value in the stadium woods doesn't mean that there is no value there.
i had a feeling this thread was gonna get all. . . .
for the record i'm in the put it somewhere else crowd. there are trees there that are over 300 years old, some pushing 400, older than blacksburg itself. the southgate lot doesnt hurt the storm runoff situation (building in the woods would) and the mitigation plan would create 70 more spots than there is already. put it there.
The other thing that should be noted - even if they were to build a new facility on the stadium woods site, there would need to be significant grading and earth-moving. So in addition to removing some very old trees, there would be a big disturbance to the site.
So from a landscape architect's perspective, building the facility in the nearby lot minimizes the construction problems on the stadium woods site. Also, that gameday plaza would be a sweet addition! That would be a really cool feature for the general public and one that really isn't a possibility in many of the other locations due to space constraints.
Maybe they'll stop using Torgersen Bridge as the backdrop for Gameday and make the Gameday Plaza the Gameday backdrop. Gameday Gameday Gameday