Board of Trustees votes to approve architects

[aubiefifty 18,222]

Auburn Board of Trustees votes to approve architects for standalone football complex

Today 10:54 AM

4-5 minutes

Auburn Football

Julie Bennett

Allen Greene addresses the media for the first time as Auburn University's new athletic director Friday, Jan. 19, 2018, at the Auburn Athletics Complex in Auburn, Ala. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com) Julie Bennett

Auburn’s journey toward building a new standalone football facility took an important step forward on Monday morning.

The university’s Board of Trustees, during an emergency meeting via teleconference, voted to approve the architects for the proposed Football Performance Center project that was previously approved in September. The architecture firms of Goodwyn, Mills, Cawood of Montgomery and HOK Architects of Kansas City, Mo., were selected by the university for the project.

The two firms previously worked with Auburn on the HArdbert Family Recruiting Center in the southwest corner of Jordan-Hare Stadium that was opened prior to the 2018 season.

The approval of the firms was limited to “the project planning and design development to the schematic design phase until such time as the program requirements, budget, funding plan, and site are approved by the Board.”

Those details have yet to be disclosed or settled upon by Auburn, though the most logical site for the project appears to be the Old Track on Biggio Drive. The plan for the Football Performance Center appears to be on the fast-track following last month’s project approval -- especially given the timing of Monday’s emergency meeting, which is less than a month before the Board of Trustees’ next scheduled meeting on Nov. 22.

A standalone football facility has long been atop the wishlist of seventh-year head coach Gus Malzahn, who -- along with his wife Kristi -- last year pledged to donate $2 million toward the funding of the project. The entirety of the project is expected to be paid with athletics department funding -- through university general revenue bonds -- and donations from boosters, as well as the donation from the Malzahns.

While a timeline on the Football Performance Center project is currently unclear, athletics director Allen Greene said last month that the timeline for such facilities are “pretty consistent across the board” from what he has seen from other programs. Greene said the design process typically takes up to one year, with construction on the facility requiring about two years to complete.

Ten architectural teams submitted their qualifications to Auburn since the project initiation was approved last month. From that group, four were interviewed by the Architect Selection Committee before it settled on the pairing of Goodwyn, Mills, Cawood and HOK Architects.

Auburn is confident that a standalone football facility is needed to “successfully compete within the Southeastern Conference and national peer programs” and that such a building will “enhance student-athlete development.” The new facility designed by those two firms will include dedicated space for strength and conditioning, healthy and recovery, and sports science, as well as team meeting rooms, coach and staff offices, equipment storage space and common areas.

“We have thought about what would be in it," Greene said last month. "So four walls are four walls, but I think paying particular attention about the details of what’s inside and the functionality will set our facility apart from others.... We don’t have any firm designs, but we’ve got some concepts in terms of technology that may be able to rival some others.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

[auburnphan 6,050]

Have they cashed Gus's $2 million check yet?

[WalkingCarpet 1,379]

Better hurry it up, the next coach needs to see it going in or he's not going to sign on the dotted line.

[Randman5000 4,271]

HOK are the experts in the room.