Celtics To Build World-Class Practice Facility

http://www.nba.com/celtics/news/sidebar/misc-051016-celtics-to-build-world-class-practice-facility








Celtics To Build World-Class Practice Facility



Posted: May 10, 2016


By Boston Celtics |  @Celtics

Celtics.com


May 10, 2016




BOSTON, MA – The 17-time NBA Champion Boston Celtics and NB Development Group LLC announced today that Boston Landing, a mixed-used development in the Allston-Brighton neighborhood of Boston, will become the home of the Celtics’ new world-class practice and training facility.

”We are proud to team with New Balance Development in the creation of a best-in-class athletic training and practice facility that will provide Celtics players, coaches, and training staff with the resources, technology, and programming to compete at the highest level in an increasingly competitive NBA landscape,” said Rich Gotham, President of the Boston Celtics. “The Boston Landing location will bring us closer to our game day home at the TD Garden while providing high impact brand visibility.”

The Boston Celtics practice facility will be the latest dramatic element at Boston Landing — at 55 feet in the air cantilevered out to the edge of the Mass Pike. The Celtics new practice home, including the team’s 17 NBA championship banners, will be highly visible from the Massachusetts Turnpike with a forty foot glass wall enclosing the practice courts that face the approximately 130,000 daily commuters. The practice facility will encompass approximately 70,000 square feet.

“We are thrilled to welcome the Boston Celtics to Boston Landing,” Jim Halliday, Managing Director for NB Development Group LLC. “Adding another iconic brand like the Boston Celtics to Boston Landing at Allston-Brighton along the Mass Pike further advances the concept of Boston Landing serving as the gateway into the City of Boston from the west, while at the same time adding to the culture of health, wellness, and movement with this district.”

Features of the comprehensive practice facility will include:
Two state-of-the-art parquet floor basketball courts where the team will practice
Leading edge audio-visual technology throughout the facility
Expanded strength and conditioning, training, and recovery facilities
Best-in-class locker rooms and players’ lounge
Physical therapy areas including hydrotherapy pools
Sports science and nutrition facilities
Expanded media work room, press conference and broadcast facilities
A flexible hospitality area for guests and hosting community relations activities
Work space for the team’s coaching and basketball front office staffs
Construction is estimated to begin at 40 Guest Street in the Fall of 2016 with completion for the Spring of 2018. Elkus Manfredi Architects will handle the design and John Moriarty & Associates will handle the construction. Participating brokers from Transwestern/RBJ included Steve Purpura and Chris McCauley representing NB Development Group and Michael Joyce and Tom Ashe representing the Boston Celtics.
The team’s current practice facility at Healthpoint in Waltham, MA has served as the Celtics practice home since 1999.

Boston Landing is a 15-acre mixed-use development in the Allston-Brighton neighborhood of Boston that includes the new world headquarters of New Balance Athletics, Inc. and the Boston Bruins practice facility. A commuter rail station will be completed on the Framingham-Worcester line during Spring of 2017. In addition, the development includes additional office buildings, retail and restaurant space, a hotel and a sports complex.



bob


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Sort of an If you build it they will come. or If you build it will they come?

beat

Sharing the facility with the Boston Bruins, and God knows who else. The Celtics will be in a section overlooking the Mass Turnpike. These are the things that are appealing to new players. Waltham was just too small for their needs.

I can see this new facility as only a plus for recruiting new players for many years to come.

There is no question that with professional athletes now training or playing ten or eleven months per year that a top level training facility will be something that many other teams will also build in time if they do not already have one.

Careful for what you wish for on the idea of having more players actually going to reside in metropolitan Boston rather than Waltham, however. Lots more easy temptations for affluent young guys to get involved with in the city.