The Baltimore Ravens’ players and coaching staff have a lot of work to do heading into the 2017 season. The franchise as a whole also has big plans, much of it involving construction and logistics for the expansion of their practice facility in Owings Mills.
The current space is by no means shabby. In fact, the 200,000-square-foot Under Armour Performance Center is among the best in the league, according to Ravens.com. However, their staff has grown significantly since they opened the facility in 2004 — as shown by a nearly twofold increase in the number of full-time employees — and they want need space to house all of their players during training camp.
The franchise is thus planning an 18-month, $45 million renovation of the castle-like facility. Architecture firm Gaudreau, Inc., developer Whiting-Turner Contracting Company and design consultant Kristin Powers are collaborating on the project.
A big part of it will involve acquiring more land around the practice field, which will eventually become parking for up to 1,200 fans. Senior vice president of operations Bob Eller told Ravens.com the space was never built to have much fan parking anyway, since they didn’t even hold training camp there until 2011.
The downside to all of this is that fans won’t be able to come watch training camp this offseason due to ongoing construction. The team predicts training camp will be open to spectators again in 2018.
For the actual building, the main piece of the renovation involves more than doubling the size of the first floor’s north wing and then adding a second floor on top. This area holds most of the franchise’s communications and marketing offices, according to Ravens.com. They’ll also be moving their auditorium to that wing and expanding its capacity by 50 or so seats. That phase should be finished by the end of next year, according to the franchise.
There’s a lot more planned, including expansions of the team’s locker, meeting and dining rooms, as well as a new hallway heading to the front of the building from the locker room. Click here to view before-and-after renderings and learn some more of the details.
