http://www.hokiesports.com/football/recaps/20180201aaa.html
Thanks to the generosity of a Roanoke, Virginia couple who are long-term benefactors to many areas of Virginia Tech, plans are now underway to transform the Virginia Tech Football strength and conditioning center into a dynamic training area to meet the current and future needs of the program.
This renovation and expansion will nearly double the functional workout space of the facility located in the Merryman Center, increasing the total square footage from approximately 6,900 square feet to over 12,300 square feet. A completion date of early 2019 is anticipated.
This is the kind of forward looking and future thinking we need to get over the hump. The expansion and rearranging of offices and refueling is making the best use of space.
Comments
A completion date of early 2019 is anticipated.
Just in time for the 2019 early enrollees.
After walking through Merryman and watching the video of the U's new 35 mil indoor practice complex and Clemson's new football facility, this is the things that help take us to the next level in recruiting. Grateful Hokie alums are starting to step up their support in pursuit of not falling behind in our facilities while not having to build a completely new building everytime something becomes a little dated.
Merryman is an achor around every sport and coach trying to recruit. It also is really hurting Tech and it's in house TV production for the new ACC network. Something has to be done in the long term.
The real problem is that there's a lack of functional space around the athletics campus near McComas, Cassell, Merryman & Lane. There's space to be had, but it requires someone giving something up.
As a planner, surface parking is one of the least efficient land uses possible. This would make the lot at Washington & Beamer Way the most logical spot to redevelop. However, VT probably would be under a lot of pressure to keep that surface lot for tailgating purposes.
Similar problems arise when we start looking to replace the practice fields between Thompson Field & Beamer Way. The soccer & lacrosse teams need practice fields, plus the artificial turf field gets used on football gamedays for event space.
If I were in charge of creating an athletics master plan, here's what I would do. The Food Science & Tech Lab on the corner of Duck Pond Drive & Washington Street is an older facility and takes up valuable space. I'd demolish that building and move their facilities across Duck Pond Drive where there is space in front of the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Now we can relocate the greenhouses just west of McComas to the corner of Duck Pond & Washington. The Hahn Horticulture Garden squeezed in between the two areas I've highlighted below isn't going anywhere and any attempt to do so in favor of athletics would likely cause a big uproar. But flipping the greenhouses to the other side of the garden gives us room to work.
A west wing expansion of McComas could become the new home for Olympic sports (offices & associated training facilities), while freeing up the leftover space in Merryman & the bowels of Cassell solely for football & basketball programs.
I think long term Cassell has to be torn down and rebuilt with many modern amenities and spaces built in. TV studio, media room etc.
Don't forget the mini-golf course and slide.
Agreed. Just looking at the pillars from this angle, they use up valuable space.
You're probably right.
I think the likely long term scenario is that a new arena is built on the parking lot at Beamer Way & Washington Street next to McComas and then Cassell is turned into a parking garage.
I just love that old barn though. I don't think we need much more than we've got due to geographic limitations for basketball season-ticket holders, and I think you could achieve some of the modern amenities through a thorough renovation. Clemson's renovation of Littlejohn is a good comparison, and it seats 9,000 after all the upgrades.
Any renovation would definitely require new construction for team facilities elsewhere though, which is why I proposed the scenario above.
I don't think seating expansion is the right answer for a new place but it needs luxury boxes for one. Also the "basement" of Cassell already is filled with spaces that can only be renovated not completely changed.
Agreed. That's what I was getting at when I mentioned Clemson's renovation. I only mentioned the capacity as something that's a good target for us too given the geographic similarities of Blacksburg & Clemson.
You can see in the photo below that they created a club area, which I think is something you could accomplish with a renovation of Cassell. They didn't go overboard with lots of luxury seating, which is a good model for VT.
Good luck getting the University to sign on to the demolition of FST. They just got done converting the old dairy lab into a modern, flexible classroom, at considerable expense. The College of Ag & Life Sciences is touting that facility as a new and innovating learning space. No way that building goes down. I agree it's old and most of it is ugly, but there will be serious pushback after that investment.
Ha, I figured there might some issue with my purely hypothetical scenario.
Thanks for the insight.
So as someone who didn't go to classes at Tech I have questions. If the barns with animals are on the other side of campus why not move the classrooms for those majors over there?
My first thought is that it's not easy to get to that side of campus. Do the buses even run over there?
That's a big reason. Also, very few classes require access to animals and barns. The vet students make frequent use of those facilities, but they're already out there close to them. The dairy science and APSC students only have a few labs that require access to the actual animals, and the vast majority of their classes are on the main campus. So there's no functional or logistical reason to have those majors isolated from the main campus buildings.
Do they use the chicken buildings next to Chicken Hill Lot?
Yes.
Those seemed so oddly placed among all the athletic fields.
There's more chicken buildings waaaaay out past UCB near Rising Silos that my fiancé deals with. With her being a grad student it doesn't seem to be an issue but I remember her having trouble getting over there with an undergraduate course schedule.
Yes, you want to piss off big time sports donors? Tell them they have to tailgate in a parking garage.
Coach Hilgart is pleased.
How did you manage to get a picture of him so happy? I've never seen him this joyous.
I definitely don't have a 25 pound VT stamped plate from McComas at my house.
That's too bad, I heard they really tie the room together.
I've been thinking for a while that Coach Hilgart looks vaguely familiar and couldn't place it, but it just came back to me. There was a guy named Kenny Osborne who used to work for VT EHS tht would come do hazardous waste disposal and safety training and such. Think he left to take a promotion at Radford, but the guy was so nice and helpful even though he could stare daggers through a brick wall
EDIT: doin' come googlin' and looks like he's back at Tech unless the EHS website is old
Piece by piece and brick by brick Whit is bringing the entire athletic program/facilities into the 21st century. I love it.
Okay, Kelly Clarkson.
Lol I had to google that. I've never heard that song in my life.
Brick by brick?! That's how I like to do things!
So, anybody know of any job openings? I'm pretty handy with a pressure washer.
They didn't mean "Thick as a brick."
Indoor practice facility was a big step, athlete only dining was a big step, upgrades to training facilities are a big step... we are checking things off the list year by year, but eventually we need to tackle the dorms. We need big time gucci gucci football only dorms. Not the most fair thing in the world, but if we want to beat the blue bloods we need to act like a blue blood.
Dorms are being/will be addressed soon
It just keeps getting better.
Go Hokies!
Fireman, I thought this was as good a place as any to let you know I joined the Hokie Club today. Graduated last year and graduate with my Masters this May so they got me while I'm young.
Good on ya. It's not all about huge gifts or donors but young people giving what they can that will really make the difference.
It's funny how the new tax plan will hurt some donations, but for young people who are just out of college it actually helps because most of us will get an extra few thousand dollars a year, some of which I plan on giving to Tech along with other organizations.
Bingo. My employer (2700 person company) is going to be bringing an extra $26mil this year due to the new tax plan. Given the company's recent success, and my personal success, I expect some of that to trickle down to me, and hopefully, in turn, Hokie Club.
Good luck on the trickle down, all the way around
I pointed this out in the original tread on the topic. For 90+% of HC donators, their take-home pay increases will definitely offset and outweigh any marginal benefit they were seeing from their deduction.
And good on you for joining btw.
And on the 8th day, the Lord looked down, and said... There will be Big Squats on Friday
That is a lot of racks.
When the athletic department does their usual fundraising auctions can one of the items be a workout in the training facility? I'd love to put in some squats and deads in that gym.
I suggested in my last phone call that having a Hokie Dads event camp with the S&C staff would be a huge hit. Get to workout in the gym get a workout plan done by S&C staff and some behind the scenes tours.
Love that idea, but I'm guessing the liability is through the roof, and thus why they won't do it. I'm sure Saban has thought of "try to tackle Trent Richardson day" to raise money or boost recruiting, but i bet they cant for liability reasons.
Umm they host clinics and events in a lot of sports.
For fans? in shoulder pads/contact/lifting weights?
Umm what part of S&C would involve wearing pads or hitting? They hold sports clinics for high schoolers all the time where the students doing drills including participating in those sports. Why would the liability be less for that than an adult who can sign a waiver?
must sign a waiver form and that's that?
That's an awesome idea and something that even if not personalized would be something I would pay a decent amount of money to do.
I dunno. This looks photoshopped. I'm calling shenanigans.
2019...that's just next year; sounds shovel ready.
I wonder how many of these pencil-in-the-donor jobs Whit has in his back pocket.