Providence College will build a new athletics center "attached to Alumni Hall, which will include a basketball practice facility as well as additional space for athletics department activities," according to Kevin McNamara of the PROVIDENCE JOURNAL. The main phase of the project "will cost" $30M. The new building "has been discussed for more than a decade" as the need for one "is very real." Alumni Hall "houses the only competition-level, wooden basketball court on campus." The first phase is "expected to begin in the spring and be completed by late summer" '17 (PROVIDENCE JOURNAL, 12/16). McNamara notes the project will "help many athletes on campus, but the centerpiece is a long-awaited practice facility that PC basketball coaches have been calling for over the last 15 years." McNamara: "It's about time. ... This one is the biggest step yet in keeping up with the Joneses of the college sports world." When the Big East was "reconstituted three years ago, every school made a commitment to spend more money on facilities." PC is "stepping up, thanks in large part to annual fundraising that saw" over $6M raised for athletics in '15, a 44% increase over '14. Former PC BOT Chair Michael Ruane and his family "gave the lead gift on the newest building." Construction on the nearly 50,000-square-foot Ruane Center "will begin this spring," and will include "two new practice courts, a new locker room and office wing for the men's team, a Hall of Fame with a statue honoring coaching legends Joe Mullaney and Dave Gavitt and an athletic department dining room" (PROVIDENCE JOURNAL, 12/16).
