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Iowa State seeks final approval for $90 million sports performance center
By Ben Visser, correspondent
Nov. 14, 2018 4:43 pm, Updated: Nov. 14, 2018 5:19 pm
AMES — The Iowa State athletics department will seek final approval from the Board of Regents on Thursday for a $90 million, 110,000-square foot, four-story sports performance center.
The building will connect to the Bergstrom Football Complex on the northwest corner of Jack Trice Stadium. Iowa State also will demolish the Olson Building, which is attached to the north part of the Jacobson Building, and build a new lighted plaza in its place.
While the new structure would be attached to the football facilities, it would be used by all student-athletes.
The vision is clearly to make the new facility a one-stop-shop. Iowa State would relocate its academic support center to the third floor of the new facility, add a nutrition and dining area to the fourth floor and Iowa State would have an Olympic sports center with softball batting cages, weight room and sports medicine facilities for soccer, softball, tennis and golf in the basement.
Currently, both softball and soccer practice in the Bergstrom Football Complex during the winter; softball even plays some games in there in the early spring.
'When we initiated this project, our vision was to provide our student-athletes state of the art facilities that would allow all 450 of them to study, train and compete with the best student-athletes in the nation,' athletics director Jamie Pollard said in a statement. 'I could not be more excited and pleased that multiple donors have stepped up to provide the necessary resources to make our vision a reality.'
The football team would get nearly 20,000 square feet of additional locker room, team lounges, offices and gathering space on the first and second floors.
Pollard has already raised $40 million in private donations and he fully expects to be able to raise the rest if the project is approved.
The project is expected to take two years to build if it's approved. Iowa State would break ground in June 2019.
'Right now, Iowa State is in a really, really good special place,' women's basketball coach Bill Fennelly said. 'I've been here 24 years and I've never seen it like this. I'm talking about everything — the university, the fundraising, the athletic department. It is so much fun right now to be a part of the vibe and the energy surrounding (football) Coach (Matt) Campbell, (men's basketball) Coach (Steve) Prohm have created here. It's incredible with the way Jamie has led. It's fun to be part of it.'
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