LOOK: Gators Online tours the Bill Heavener Football Training Center
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Bill Heavener Football Training Center is still being moved in to. There are paintings, televisions, banners, and more to be hung on the walls. The dining room won’t be full service until Wednesday, August 23, but the football team has already made its mark.
On Monday, Gators Online was given the opportunity to tour the new Heavener Center. It was a chance to see a plan that started six years ago. The facility has gone through numerous changes. If the original plan had been built, it would be a disjointed, three our four-story building, hidden in a small corner near the track and field facility. Now, it’s a sprawling 140,000-square-foot jewel that will serve as the hub of Florida Gators Athletics.
The original plan, which was to put approximately $30 million of renovations into the old McKethan Stadium and build a football facility that would cost approximately $50-60 million dollars was scrapped. Instead, Condron Ballpark was built. It’s a state-of-the-art, $65 million park that stands up to any in the country. That allowed for the demolition of the old baseball stadium and new land to open up for the Heavener Center, which came in around $85 million.
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“Renovating old McKethan and putting this building over in that small area on 2nd Avenue would have probably been a 10-year fix,” Florida AD Scott Stricklin said on Monday. “Building the new Condron Ballpark and this facility right here is probably a 50-60 year fix.”
Come inside the new facility and see what daily life will now look like for the more than 500 student-athletes at the University of Florida.
Photo Gallery: Gators Online tours Heavener Center
