U of Miami Proposes $100M ‘State-of-the-Art’ Football Facility
By Julia Echikson December 6, 2022 5:42 pm
reprints
In a bid to boost its football prospects, the University of Miami wants to build a $100 million complex for its team, the Miami Hurricanes.
Dubbed The Football Operations Center, the 150,000-square-foot building would house administrative offices, spaces dedicated to training and recovery and a 15,000-square-foot dining facility for athletes, according to a proposal submitted to the Coral Gables Development Review Committee.
“The building will support student athletes and the university’s goal of recruiting the best talent in the nation,” Jessica Brumley, the university’s vice president of facilities, stated in the letter of intent.
The “state-of-the-art facility,” according to Brumley, would also include a six-story parking garage featuring 600 spots. The facility, designed by Arquitectonica, would cover 2 acres in total.
The seven-story building would replace a surface parking lot at 1255 Dickinson Drive adjacent to the Watsco Center, an 8,000-seat arena, while the parking garage would be erected across the street at 1253 Dickinson Drive. A bridge on the third floor would connect the two structures.
Construction would get underway in late 2023 and be completed in mid-2025. The Coral Gables Development Review Committee will hear the proposal on Friday.
If approved, the complex would be the latest addition to the university’s sports facilities, which include the Herbert Wellness Center and The Soffer Football Indoor Practice Facility, the latter of which was completed in 2018 and cost $40 million.
Miami’s football team has struggled this season. It lost five home games in a row for the first time in 59 years and failed to qualify for a bowl for the first time in 15 years, according to Miami Herald.
Julia Echikson can be reached at jechikson@commercialobserver.com.
