A new 110,000-square-foot building that will house meeting rooms, coaches offices and a locker room for the football program, as well as an academic center, weight room, athletic training room and state-of-the-art digital media production facility for all of USC’s 21 sports will be built directly west of Heritage Hall on the USC campus, Trojan athletic director Pat Haden announced on Oct. 30.

Groundbreaking on the project is planned for January, with construction scheduled to take about 18 months. The two-story building will include a basement and will feature a brick exterior that matches the architecture of most USC buildings. State-of-the-art technology will be included throughout the building.

The building will be located on the site of the current intramural field adjacent to Heritage Hall and the Galen Dining Center. That field will be relocated just south of its current spot, between the new building and Loker Track Stadium.

Fundraising has begun for the $70 million project, which will include the cost of the building, a maintenance endowment and renovation of vacated space in Heritage Hall.

“I am delighted that the president and university leaders share our vision about the necessity and value of this new athletic building,” Haden said. “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.”

President C. L. Max Nikias said: “We are very excited about the number of donors who are stepping up with major gifts to make this project a reality for our student-athletes and their coaches. These donors recognize the importance of USC’s legendary athletic tradition and want to do their part to promote athletic excellence and educational excellence now and in the future. We look forward to recognizing them when we break ground for the new building in January. I commend Pat Haden for making this project one of his first priorities.”

The new building’s basement, which will be connected to Heritage Hall’s basement, will be approximately 60,000 square feet and will house a 32,000-square-foot weight room (USC’s current weight room in Heritage Hall is 9,600 square feet), an 18,000-square-foot athletic training room (the current training room is 2,700 square feet) and men’s and women’s locker rooms. A football locker room with an adjacent lounge will have access to the entrance of the nearby football practice field.

The building’s 25,000-square-foot ground level will be home to USC’s Student-Athlete Academic Services center. There also will be a reception area in a vaulted lobby similar to the one in Heritage Hall and an outdoor courtyard.

The upper level of the new building, also 25,000 square feet, will house the football coaches’ offices, football team meeting rooms and a video production facility. There also will be an outdoor patio area.

“Once this facility is completed, our physical infrastructure will be among the finest of any athletic department in the nation and worthy of our student-athletes,” Haden said.

Heritage Hall, which is approximately 70,000 square feet, will remain in use by the athletic department. The new building will allow for reallocation of space in Heritage Hall for athletic department staff, as well as an expansion of the athletic equipment room and a new lounge area for all student-athletes.

More stories about: Buildings, Campaign for USC, Facilities, Staff