| 07/10/2008 |
| ISU releases plans for basketball facility |
| By: Courtney Linehan |
|
Iowa State released plans today for a new 36,000 square foot basketball practice facility to be located in west Ames. Developer Dickson Jensen is donating two acres for the project, which will be part of a 10-acre retail and commercial development planned for that area. The facility would house both the men's and women's basketball programs, including team offices, separate gym spaces and a training room. The athletics department has already raised $2.5 million of the approximately $8 million dollars needed. The entire cost of the project would be funded by the athletic department. Iowa State men's basketball coach Greg McDermott said in a press release that this facility will help make the Cyclones a more viable competitor in the Big 12. "Every team in the Big 12 has a new practice facility or is building one," he said. "Our new practice facility will allow us to compete with any institution in the country for the best recruits because our student-athletes will have access to one of the premiere practice facilities in college basketball." The City of Ames and the Board of Regents still need to approve the project, but it could open as soon as September 2009.
|