After adjusting proposed blueprints for the new Athletic Training Facility, the Office of Public Affairs and the Georgetown Athletics Department believe the plans are on track for approval by the Old Georgetown Board.

“This is a modification of an already approved building,” Vice President for Public Affairs and Senior Adviser to the President Erik Smulson said. “It’s more of a bridge process.”

In the original designs submitted to the board last year, the ATF, also referred to as the Intercollegiate Athletic Center, slightly obstructed the entrance to McDonough Arena. However, after an OGBhearing in October where members criticized the plans, the blueprints were modified to connect the ATF to McDonough Arena through a rotunda.

The OGB, a branch of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, reviews projects in the Georgetown area to ensure they fit in with existing historical architecture.

The proposed 125,000 square-foot athletic complex will have two stories.

The ground floor is intended to provide practice space, office suites and locker rooms for the men’s and women’s basketball teams, while the lower level will include a weight room, training room, equipment room, team meeting space and additional locker rooms for other student athletes.

Current plans estimate that the ATF will cost $55 million, which will be drawn from the $125 million allocated to intercollegiate athletics in the university’s current capital campaign.

“We feel good about the projected building, how it looks, where it is, who it will serve,” Director of Athletics Lee Reed said.

The facility was originally added to the 2000 Campus Plan as an amendment in 2006, when it was approved by the Zoning Commission. The project was halted, however, during the 2008 economic downturn.

When work resumed on major projects in 2009, Regents Hall was the university’s primary focus. With that building slated for completion in May, the ATF will soon become the administration’s priority.

Although initial plans for the ATF were approved by the Old Georgetown Board in 2006, they must be reconsidered because the time period originally set for beginning construction has expired.

According to Reed, the last major construction project to affect university athletics was McDonough Arena, completed in 1951. Since then, the number of student athletes has increased from 100 to 750 and the number of varsity teams from nine to 29.

“It will certainly improve every single sport and touch every single student athlete in our athletic program,” Reed said.