SDSU moving forward with sports practice facility design

A rendering shows what the indoor practice space at the university’s planned Indoor Practice and Human Performance Athletic Facility could look like when the facility is complete. Courtesy art

• University to seek S.D. Legislature’s approval in 2013

BROOKINGS – South Dakota State University is one small step closer to creating an indoor practice and human performance facility for its 400-plus athletes.

The South Dakota Board of Regents Building Committee met via teleconference Friday morning with SDSU officials and with lead architect David Murphy, president of Crawford Architects of Kansas City, Mo.

Architectural programming and schematic design of the facility is already complete. On Friday, SDSU was requesting and received authorization to proceed beyond this point, which is required as part of the facility approval process.

Design efforts need to be provided through the design development planning phase, to confirm accurate construction costs and establish a guaranteed maximum price for construction.

SDSU plans to ask the South Dakota Legislature for approval of this capital improvement project during the Legislature’s 2013 session. For that reason, and to have the information available for prospective donors and others, the university would like to develop the design to finalize the scope, funding, and establish a guaranteed maximum price for the facility.

SDSU officials told Regents that the facility has been designed so far so that it may be built in three stages if necessary, but added that building it all at once would be more economical.

The base project, which is the indoor practice facility without seating or human performance facility, is estimated to cost $27.7 million.

The indoor practice and human performance facilities together are estimated to cost $33.4 million.

All three facilities together are estimated to cost $38.3 million.

In early August SDSU announced that it already has $18 million committed to build the facility, including $10 million from Sanford Health and the rest from anonymous donors.

When the Board of Regents initially approved the facility proposal at the end of June, they were told this would be a 12-month indoor training facility for athletes of all sports. A synthetic turf field with practice area, 300-meter track with 100-meter straightway, field event practice areas and observation space for about 1,000 spectators would be included.

A second half of the building would expand the college’s sports medicine facilities and house rehabilitation programming, enabling SDSU to partner with the medical community. This human performance facility would include sports medicine, athletic training, strength and conditioning, physical therapy, hydrotherapy, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), X-ray, observation rooms and office facilities.

SDSU would build the indoor practice and human performance facility north of the Dykhouse Student Athlete Center, at the north end of Coughlin Alumni Stadium.



Contact Charis Prunty at cprunty@brookingsregister.com.