USC announces plans for $70-million athletic facility

For a long time, USC has had world-class athletes play on its nationally successful teams despite lacking a top-notch athletic center.

That’s about to change.

USC Athletic Director Pat Haden announced plans this morning for a new two-story, 110,000 square foot, $70-million athletic building to replace the outdated, cramped facilities in Heritage Hall. The new building will be built where the current intramural field is, just west of Heritage Hall. The intramural field will then move next door between the new building and Loker Track Stadium as the Music Practice and Instructional Center (PIC) will be demolished.

“I am delighted that the president and university leaders share our vision about the necessity and value of this new athletic building,” Haden said in a press release. “This facility has been in the formative stages for a while now and I am excited that we are ready to move forward. While Heritage Hall will always be the central point of our athletic department, the reality is that we have outgrown Heritage Hall and we are badly undersized and overcrowded in there. This new building will be the finest of its kind anywhere and will provide our student-athletes every opportunity to succeed academically and athletically.”

Groundbreaking for the new center will begin in January and will take about 18 months to complete. The new building will have a basement that connects to Heritage Hall’s basement and will include a weight room that is more than three times larger than the current weight room in Heritage Hall. It will also feature a much larger training room (18,000 square feet compared to the current 2,900 square feet) and a football locker room and lounge that will have access to the football practice field across the street.

The ground floor will feature a new student-academic services area as a well as a vaulted lobby and outdoor courtyard. Football will mostly take over the second floor with coaches’ offices and video and meeting rooms. There will also be an outdoor patio.

The project is expected to cost $70 million, which will cover the building, a maintenance endowment and renovation of the vacated space in Heritage Hall, which will remain in use as a home for athletic department staff, workout area and a new student-athlete lounge.