Coming Soon to Penn State: A 'Quarterback Lab'
Penn State plans to build a new training space for quarterbacks as part of its continuing renovations at the Lasch Football Building.
The State College Borough Planning Commission on Thursday will hear plans detailing the 1,100-square-foot expansion, which Penn State submitted in April. According to Penn State's Office of Physical Plant, the "Quarterback Lab" will include "specialized audio-video and technology solutions to support quarterback training."
In addition, Penn State is planning a 14,000-square-foot expansion to the Lasch Building that will include upgrades to the weight room and sports-performance areas as well as expanded office space.
Statecollege.com first reported the plans.
The renovations are part of a multi-phased project to overhaul Penn State's football headquarters at a budgeted $69 million. Penn State's Board of Trustees approved the plans in May 2019.
Further details of the "Quarterback Lab" are scarce. It will be located on the site of a current courtyard between the Lasch Building and the adjacent Morgan Academic Center. Penn State's Office of Physical Plant is accepting bids.
HOK of Philadelphia is designing both phases of renovations.
Built in 1999, the Lasch Building has undergone significant renovations under former coach Bill O'Brien and current coach James Franklin. The latest $69 million project was devised to keep Lasch apace with expanding football facilities across the country.
"The renovations already completed in Lasch Building have played a critical role in helping develop our student-athletes and build one of the top football programs in the nation," Franklin said last year. "To sustain and strengthen our successes, we need to keep investing to give our students and staff all the tools they need for us to win at the very highest level, on and off the field."
Penn State Athletic Director Sandy Barbour said that the Lasch Building upgrades will be funded privately. Penn State said last year that it had raised $28.1 million in private funding for the renovations since announcing them in 2015.
Earlier this spring, Barbour said on a video call that plans to finish the Lasch Building renovations would continue despite the university shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Certainly we'll need to see where we are from a fundraising standpoint, but obviously we're committed to that as well as several other projects that are on the runway and getting close to getting going," Barbour said. "I do know this: Our alumni and donors and fans have been terrific. Our Nittany Lion Club and development folks continue to receive gifts and money through this very challenging time for everyone. So I am very confident that, although the times may be a little more challenging, when the time is right we'll have the opportunity to move forward with these things."
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