Board of Visitors approves major facility improvements for athletics
We knew it was coming and today it was announced. English Field and Rector Fieldhouse are being renovated and completely made over to make them unrecognizable with a total cost of $36m. I'll let the images that VT athletics is posting to twitter speak for themselves (on mobile so I can't embed tweets, so Joe or VTG if you can help, that would be great)
Credit to TSL and Hokiesports for images
The main seating area of English Field at Union Park will be reconstructed and moved closer to home plate. Total capacity is expected to be 1,500, in addition to the left field terrace seating. Plans also provide for a club area to be included in the construction, located behind the first base (visitors) dugout.
The new press box tower structure will feature improvements to accommodate fans, the media, and athletics staff. The ground level will include enhanced concessions, marketing and restroom facilities. The second floor will house working press box, ample television and radio broadcast facilities, game operations space, along with four suites.
There will be several major areas of improvements to Rector, but the largest and most visible will be the construction of an indoor throws area. The addition will feature two throws areas. The addition will be connected to the main arena and will be used for both practice and competition.
Also included in this project is an expanded and enhanced entrance on the east side of Rector, including a permanent lobby. In addition, a new outdoor plaza will be constructed on the east side of Rector, enhancing both the field house and Tech Softball Park.
A new north wing will be added as well. There will be an expanded training room, along with two halftime rooms that can be used for soccer and lacrosse games, as well as for administrative space for track and other events.
The softball hitting facility will be attached to Rector Field House and immediately adjacent to Tech Softball Park. It will provide the Hokies with an indoor infield for practice during inclement weather, along with four cages for hitting and pitching practice.
The one-story building also will feature two coaches rooms, an equipment room, a team room, a film room, a mudroom, and team facilities. The facility will be available to the program year-round and will have uses for practice, team events and game-day necessities. The new facility will encompass more than 16,000 square feet.
Comments
Wow. That looks beautiful. I remember practicing in Rector with the HT's trying to figure how such a major university could have such a barebones facility.
Oh whats not to love!
I mean what indoor field needs the corners of the endzone anyway.
And who needs to clean it when the band will just do it anyway.
Great to see all our sports getting attention.
Entrance to the field is fricken amazing.
Huge improvement. VT sports other than football and basketball deserve attention as well.
As an aside, I can't help but notice the strong similarity to Lane in the exterior shot of the renovated English Field. Atty this point, only Cassell really remains as something that doesn't follow the same motif. Wonder when that building gets its turn?
For the love of everything that is good I would kill to see the baseball field sport grass again.
It broke my heart to see the turf come about after playing at that field in highschool... it's how I found Tech
this is an uneducated guess...but I imagine the maintenance costs for a real grass field are much higher than for turf and that we should probably expect turf for that reason
Oh I totally understand the business decision but speaking only personally (opinion incoming) it kills me to see a turf field.
If we're dropping millions for facilities why not have grass? When I played games at schools like Davidson and App State I assumed they had turf because they couldn't afford the maintenance but, I figured VT could keep paying that. I'm an old school baseball guy at heart maybe at 25 I'm an old man when it comes to my favorite sport but, to me the cost vs. the look and feel of a real field is not a hard pick
Also less rainouts/snow-outs, I think.
The turf is way better than natural grass. It doesn't get torn up with all the rain and snow and can be played on immediately once it is cleared. You can't use bobcats to clear snow from a natural field.
Good point!
Now you kids get off my lawn!
So I was part of the Turfgrass Management program and a Club Baseball player during the time of the change so I remember some of the background. Once you figure in the million dollar original investment I remember it being not cheaper, you still have lots of maintenance on an artificial field (Pet Peeve of every Turfgrass guy is calling artificial Turf, all fields are turf (either natural or artificial)).
The main force behind going artificial was Hughes. He thought his guys played faster, and apparently at BC they parked cars on the field for football games (so he had artificial turf there).
Turgrass Nerd Alert:
They were also having issues with Poa Annua weeds making their way to the field, which are very difficult to treat in a Kentucky Bluegrass Field (which English used to be). All the field managers and professors wanted to go to a Ryegrass/Bermuda mix which is what is at Lane and the Soccer field, but ultimately Hughes said no, then left the program and the field manager left for Texas A&M.
Once Poa moves in, it ain't leaving. And bermuda is brown the entire season, not "popping" and turning green until June in the RVA. Partially a visual decision, partially a "get the field ready to play quicker" decision.
I don't know...the crowd in that second image looks a lil iffy...did someone from LOLUVA work on these graphics?
Glad to see a design get approved. The estimated cost is much higher than the $21 million I heard back in February but that just means a better stadium. It looks fantastic and will put it with some of the nicer ACC baseball stadiums.
The $36m is the combined cost of English and Rector
It's also worth mentioning that these plans for the English Field renovation are heavily influenced and based upon what Kevin Jones designed and presented last year...
Hadn't seen these. Thanks. Well done Kevin
Having sat in the press box to work a high school showcase this summer, that new press box looks amazing and is much needed. I had about 4 fans going in that room and it was still about 85 in there.
This looks fantastic. Great to see Whit and the BOV raising the profile of VT sports in general after putting a stamp on Football and Buzzketball.
They tabbed the rector did they?
I absolutely can't wait to go to games here! This stadium is absolutely beautiful and I bet it will transform our baseball program.