The Browns recently completed a $15M renovation project for their training facility, which "guarantees that the team will stay in the facility" through at least '28 and has "plenty of perks" for the organization, according to Kevin Kleps of CRAIN'S CLEVELAND BUSINESS. Perks include a new board room along with a 4,600-square-foot "health and wellness center for members of the office." However, the "bulk of the work on a project that added more than 25,000 square feet and renovated another 60,000 square feet was done with the players in mind." A 1,600-square-foot players' lounge includes a barber, work stations with computers, ping pong and pool tables, massage chairs and a "large TV equipped with a gaming station." But the "crown jewel" of the renovation is the training area, which "doubled in size, to 3,500 square feet, and that doesn't include the 5,000-square-foot natatorium." The training area has "new physician offices, an X-ray room and a phlebotomy room." The majority of the work for the renovation started in January and was completed in July. Browns Exec VP & CFO David Jenkins is "proud that the project finished 'on time, on budget.'" Vocon Dir & Senior Project Designer Jodi van der Wiel, whose architecture firm was on the project, said the condensed timeline produced "an intense roller coaster." Kleps notes the completed project is a "sign of how the organization has grown off the field" since Browns Owner Jimmy Haslam III purchased the team in '12. Jenkins said that at that time the organization "had 165 employees," while today it employs 225. Jenkins: "The expansion of the organization, the investment in people, is significant. It's marketing, it's content productions, it's a very fan experience-focused investment, plus a football investment. Investments in facilities, stadiums and people" (CRAIN'S CLEVELAND BUSINESS, 8/29 issue).
