Florida Gators announce $1.2 million upgrade to basketball practice facility weight room

As referenced last month by athletic director Jeremy Foley, the Florida Gators have followed through on plans to make a significant upgrade to the weight room at the Basketball Practice Complex.

The two-story facility – which spans nearly 48,000 square feet and was built for $10 million in 2001 before being renovated to include pieces of the Final Four courts and additional technology at a cost of $1.8 million in 2007 – will receive a $1.2 million upgrade to improve its weight room.

According to the school, the area of the facility designated for health and fitness will be doubled to more than 3,000 square feet, a “nutritional bar” will be added and extra office space will be provided for training coordinators for men’s and women’s basketball, golf and tennis (all of which utilize the complex).

“This project will enhance the top-tier training space for our men’s and women’s programs in that facility,” Chip Howard, Florida’s executive associate director for internal affairs, told the school’s website. “When completed, it’ll ensure our coaches can continue to recruit, retain and empower our student-athletes to perform at the highest possible level.”

Construction will run from April through August.

“You walk in that facility and it’s served us well for a while. But you have four teams who lift in there – well, really more – men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s tennis, and men’s and women’s basketball. It’s just not big enough right now. So we are going to expand that and maybe we start that this summer,” Foley said last month.

The Gators recently announced that their planned $60 million renovation of the Stephen C. O’Connell Center, which was set to begin in March and conclude in December, was being postponed one year due to an “aggressive schedule, escalating costs associated with the rehabilitation project and a change in the construction management team.”

“We remain 100 percent committed to this project,” said Foley about the O’Dome renovation. “The $60 million that we have already earmarked for the project is indicative of this commitment.”