Coral Gables Development Review Committee reviews Miami football facilities application on Friday morning, more drawings presented

Today was the day. Miami’s new football facilities application was reviewed by the City’s Development Review Committee. This was a first step in the development process, with no approval expected or given yet.

But there were technical issues discussed regarding codes and drawings with plans revealed by Arquitectonica architect Alejandro Gonzalez.

Of note:

*In a presentation by the project architect, there will be a seven-story “main operations building,” similar in height to the Lennar Center, an eight-story garage connected to a bridge and an athletics “dining component on the ground floor” that will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The idea is to keep the campus “as pedestrian friendly as possible.” There also will be a private indoor connection back to the Indoor Practice Field so “football players directly connect to the indoor, outdoor fields. … That will only be used by football players and staff.”

The facilities will be off Dickinson on Ponce de Leon connecting to an arrival and drop-off paved area “being treated as a plaza.”

*The idea was to go vertical so as to not take up as much space on the campus “and somehow express what is happening in side the building while still presenting privacy from the ground floor.”

The architect also stressed that “to become competitive in the landscape of football” something like this has to be built “to create a world class facility.”

*From Dickinson Drive, another goal was to make the building “feel like it has a presence on Ponce de Leon. It’s leaning over, creating a sense of arrival,” per the architect.

*Another component is a small café (40 feet tall by 40 feet wide) at the base of the corner of the parking garage that will provide “additional active uses” for all students.

*Regarding the site plan, Dickenson Street will be the only vehicle access.

The architect also broke down what each floor of the new football facility will be utilized for:

FIRST FLOOR

Players arrive and have direct access to the locker room. If public enters they can go in a different direction – there’s a private side and a public side. The locker rooms, shower areas, plunge pools and restrooms are on this floor along with equipment storage. There’s also a connection to the IPF and outdoor fields and a hydration station with Gatorade “so that players are getting adequate nutrients they need as they are coming in and out.”

SECOND FLOOR

Described as a “mezzanine level,” there’s an area for media and recruiting. “When they are bringing in players and getting them hyped up and wanting to join the program, this is a showcase of the University, their heritage and getting them interested in the program,” the architect said. “And then they continue to tour the recruits for the balance of the building.”

THIRD FLOOR

This is a hydrotherapy floor. Sports science, treatment, rehab and physical therapy occur here. “They have a spa – it’s no different than going to a 5-star spa, the amount of things these players need to perform is changing,” the architect said.

FOURTH FLOOR

You take an escalator up and this is the meeting rooms floor, where players study and have film review. There’s also what was called a “simulation room, which is kind of like an indoor small field – they have video and are actually able to watch video and actually line up and prepare, very state-of-the-art space.” This level connects to the parking facility, so if players or staff park they can cross at this level and then go up or down. There’s also a recruiting lounge on this floor with an outdoor space as well “that is an extension of the sim room, so if they want to host something here for recruits, a large recruiting function, all of that would occur on this floor.”

FIFTH FLOOR

This is a staff/coaching locker room rest room area with additional office space as well as football operations area.

SIXTH FLOOR

This is coaches offices and “additional open offices for folks that support those coaches.” There’s a terrace that looks back toward the fields on this floor.

ROOF/SEVENTH FLOOR

This an indoor-open roof area that is player-focused. There’s an indoor space that can double as a basketball court. There’s a game room, simulator, pool tables, lounge areas and more. It’s for players “to relax, sit back and take it easy,” per the architect.

The next step: Submit for a board of architects review, where there will be an approval or not and then the permitting process.

Some drawings shown today during a Zoom session:

The plans for the University of Miami football operations center around Greentree Practice Field were previously filed with the City of Coral Gables and included renderings of the proposed buildings. The application was submitted Sept. 8 and sought the City’s approval for a 162,000 square foot Miami Football Operations Center and a 200,000 square foot parking garage (Dickinson Garage).

“The proposed Football Operations Center would include offices for all Miami football personnel, player locker rooms, a fitness center, team meeting rooms, an alumni lounge, rehab and treatment facilities, a photo studio, media offices, podcast rooms and a simulator room,” the application read. “The proposed Dickinson Garage would also feature an 18,000 square foot dining facility. It was part of a previously approved plan and is being relocated and reduced in size from the initially planned 280,000 square feet, in order to accommodate for the Miami Football Operations Center.”

Miami Director of Athletics Dan Radakovich previously discussed the football complex that is expected to have a price tag of around $100 million.

“We’re here to make sure that the student athletes have a great experience, not only in football, but in our other sports as well,” he said. “You have to get five or six approvals to be able to build anything even if you have the money. Okay, so here, there’s approvals and an understanding of how it impacts the campus environment. We want to be good partners with the campus. There’s a finite amount of space here on our campus to be able to work with and each one of the square feet here has to be dedicated to a positive process. So we need to make sure that what we’re what we’re looking to do is going to move the university forward because certainly I can make the case that all of these changes will move the athletic program forward.”

After the approval is granted, if the money is in place the next step will be getting shovels in the ground.

“We have great partners on campus who are working through that who do have (experience) and have built some really good things on campus,” the Miami athletics director said. “So that will help guide us through that. There’s an urgency to move. Yes, there’s absolutely an urgency to raise the money as soon as we can, get the permits as soon as we can. … We have to go out and raise money and then kind of go as fast as humanly possible to get this thing done.”

Here are the renderings: