Plan for new UK basketball practice facility approved by Board of Trustees
The final procedural hurdle toward forming a plan to build a new University of Kentucky basketball practice facility was cleared Friday afternoon.
The UK Board of Trustees unanimously approved a recommendation from university athletics officials to begin work on a predesign phase for such a facility, which would likely also include a large sports medicine component and be located near Kroger Field.
The project is being pursued as a “multi-use facility” featuring a new basketball practice complex, as well as a new UK HealthCare Sports Medicine ambulatory space, sports-related research space and other related areas.
The board of Champions Blue, the nonprofit LLC that was recently created to oversee the UK athletics department, met Tuesday morning and approved the recommendation for the predesign phase of the project without further discussion or any dissenting votes.
The Champions Blue board includes UK President Eli Capilouto and athletics director Mitch Barnhart, among other campus and community leaders. On Thursday afternoon, the UK Board of Trustees athletics committee approved the recommendation.
With Friday’s approval from the full UK BOT, athletics officials will now be able to move forward into the early stages of the planning process. Barnhart told the Herald-Leader that the predesign phase would likely take four to six months to complete.
By the end of that stage, UK officials should have a clearer view of the overall cost of such a project, as well as more concrete details on what exactly could go in the new space and where it would be located.
Barnhart acknowledged that there were no firm answers on cost or location, and he also said there was no set plan yet to fund construction of the facility. The UK AD did say the timing of this project was directly related to the proposed fan entertainment district near Kroger Field.
The UK Board of Trustees in June approved that project for further study, and it could include retail, dining, hotels and other entertainment options around the UK football stadium. The proposed basketball practice facility would likely be built in the same area, though an exact location around Kroger Field has not yet been identified.
“Nothing’s done yet. We’re not sure whether it’s going to even be affordable for us to do this,” Barnhart said this week. “So lots of things to think about, but we’re working our way through it, and we think that it’s exciting.
“And I’m hopeful — in about four to six months — we get some really quality information to be able to make some decisions. And see if we can go forward. And then, clearly, you got to be able to fund it. Can you fund it? Can you make it work financially? And so those are all major questions that are yet to be answered.”
The UK men’s and women’s basketball teams currently practice in the Joe Craft Center, which features separate gyms, coaches offices, locker rooms, team lounges and video rooms for both programs, as well as a weight room and additional offices for other athletics department coaches and officials, including Barnhart.
The Craft Center was constructed as an addition to Memorial Coliseum in 2007 at a cost of $30 million. There is no estimated price tag for the proposed complex that would feature the new basketball practice facility and sports medicine center.
That cost is expected to be determined during the predesign phase that was approved by the BOT on Friday.
