Iowa, Iowa State athletics press forward on new practice facilities

IOWA CITY - Iowa and Iowa State athletics departments each will take projects to the state Board of Regents next week with plans to add new facilities.

Iowa State will ask Regents on Wedneday to approve the schematic design and project budget for a $20.6 million football practice facility that would consolidate all football operations. The nearly 60,000-square foot building will attach to the east side of the Bergstrom Indoor Training Facility and move its current football operations from the Jacobson and Olsen buildings.

Regents gave Iowa State athletics officials permission to proceed in planning the project in 2008. ISU plans to raise private funds and debt financing to fund the project. Plans are for the proposed wedge-shaped structure to incorporate a tunnel with direct and easy access into Jack Trice Stadium on football game dates.

The project includes an 13,000-square foot strength-training area.

Iowa will ask for permission to proceed toward building a $1.86 million golf training facility at Finkbine Golf Course. The facility contains a golf performance space to practice chipping and a putting green that replicates different surfaces.

There will be two heated hitting bays with five hitting stations, which allow players to hit golf balls into the existing outdoor range. The facility also will contain rooms for lockers, meetings and offices.

"It's a low-profile building," Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta said. "I know it's going to serve our student-athletes well. It's something we need very much. It's a good location. It's being built in a way that looks ?very aesthetically pleasing.

"We have one of the great golf courses in Iowa, and I would argue, in the Midwest," Barta said.

The gross square footage is 7,414, with nearly half designated for indoor putting and chipping areas.

"We'll take it to the board next week and hopefully get their approval," Barta said.