Construction of a new 76,000-square-foot indoor turf facility is currently on track to be completed in January 2026 for use in the spring semester by students on varsity, club and intramural sports teams.
The University announced plans for the fully donor-funded facility in June 2023, and construction began in May of last year.
The building will contain two strength and conditioning rooms for both varsity and recreational use, as well as “roll-up divider curtains that allow the space to be divided into several different configurations,” the facility’s project manager, Paul Griffin, wrote in an email to The Herald.
According to Vice President of Athletics and Recreation Grace Calhoun ’92, the facility has been a priority of the athletics department since her arrival at Brown in 2021. Early modeling “suggests up to 1,500 students may benefit from the multi-purpose space on a daily basis,” she wrote in an email to The Herald.
The facility will enable teams to hold year-round practices “regardless of weather or daylight issues” and will expand the space available for club teams and intramural leagues, Calhoun wrote.
“We would find ourselves booking indoor time at a turf facility in Seekonk, which is about 15 to 20 minutes away,” said Jon Torpey, the head coach of the varsity men’s lacrosse team. “Having a facility that is walking distance from our locker room is a game changer.”
Torpey said he also thinks the facility will “even out the playing field” against schools that can begin practicing earlier in the spring season due to warmer temperatures.
Soccer player Rylee Keeley ’28 said that she is excited to “have somewhere that we can train inside and not absolutely freeze.”
She added that the shared space could be an opportunity for athletes to interact and “catch up with some of our other athlete friends,” helping maintain a “close-knit community feeling” among players.
Alexandra Madrid ’28, a field hockey player, said the indoor turf field may allow teams to spread out across athletics facilities, granting more flexibility to accommodate students’ schedules.
Athlete recruitment could also be positively influenced by the facility, Madrid said, since recruits wouldn’t have to see athletes practicing in freezing temperatures.
Amid threats to Brown’s federal funding, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 warned in March that a possible response to further reductions in revenue and funding included withdrawing from investments in the William A. and Ami Kuan Danoff Life Sciences Laboratories.
Since the indoor turf facility is entirely funded through donations, the University did not label it at risk of paused construction due to federal actions, University Spokesperson Brian Clark explained in an email to The Herald.
On Thursday, the University also announced donor-funded renovations to the Prince Lab, supported by a $16.75 million donation from the Lassonde Family Foundation.
Emily Feil is a senior staff writer covering staff and student labor. She is a freshman from Long Beach, NY and plans to study economics and English. In her free time, she can be found watching bad TV and reading good books.
