In Atlanta, Leon Stafford noted officials with Home Depot and Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the new home of the Falcons, on Friday officially "announced the creation of Home Depot Backyard, a 13-acre park that will replace" a portion of the Georgia Dome after it is demolished later this year. In addition to the park, which will open in '18, the Georgia World Congress Center Authority "plans to build an 800-to-1,000 room hotel on the Dome site" (AJC.com, 4/21).
NEW & IMPROVED: In Winston-Salem, Dan Collins noted a transformation of the Wake Forest campus "accelerated Thursday" with the "groundbreaking for the Sutton Sports Performance Center and the Shah Basketball Complex." Wake Forest AD Ron Wellman said that the target date for the "completion of the new buildings is between late summer" '18 and Jan. 1, 2019 (WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL, 4/22).
BOILERPLATE LANGUAGE: In Indiana, Mike Carmin noted work started Friday to "install permanent lights" at Purdue's Ross-Ade Stadium. The $5.6M project is "scheduled to be completed by Aug. 25." Eleven of the 15 light poles will be "placed on the east side and one in each of the four corners of the stadium." Ribbon-style lighting will "connect the 11 east-side poles and will be replicated on the west side, attached to a new 360-foot catwalk atop the Ross-Ade Pavilion" (Lafayette JOURNAL & COURIER, 4/22).
