UPDATE: FAU officially announced the selection of HKS Architects as the firm that will design the new Schmidt Athletic Complex.
BOCA RATON – FAU could know the architect of the $50 million Schmidt Athletic Complex project as early as Monday and intends to hold a ceremonial groundbreaking prior to the start of the final football recruiting rush.
On Thursday the committee charged with recommending an architect to FAU president John Kelly elected to go with HKS Architects.
Kelly does not have to accept the recommendation, but in these situations the president generally does.
HKS Architects, which also designed FAU’s football stadium, was one of four firms that made final presentations to the committee on Thursday.
The first phase of the Schmidt complex, expected to cost about $30 million and cover 96,000 square feet, will include football offices, a weight room, a sports medicine center and an academic support center. It will not include the planned indoor football practice facility, which is scheduled for Phase II.
FAU will also upgrade the stadium’s home football locker room, allowing it to be utilized as the full time locker room. FAU currently operates out of the locker room and football offices in the Oxley Center, relocating to Howard Schnellenberger Field for game days. The current stadium locker room only has room for about 80 players. The upgrade will make room for about 120.
The Schmidt complex will be located on the lawn west of Howard Schnellenberger Field.
FAU first announced its intention to build the new athletic facility in December of 2014, beginning with a $16 million gift from the Schmidt Foundation.
Once the architect is named the university will still need to complete some procedural tasks before going forward with the ceremonial groundbreaking. That could happen by the end of November, but will almost certainly occur by early January, which would allow football coaches to tout the project’s progress to recruits in the weeks heading up to the Feb. 1 National Signing Day.
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