When completed next year, the new corporate headquarters and training facilities of the NFL Baltimore Ravens will reflect the vision of team ownership. It will offer a football-practical environment designed to assist the Ravens in building winning football teams.
The Clayco Construction Company, a national design-build firm with a specialization in sports headquarters and training facilities, along with its architectural design collaborative, Forum Studio Inc., have taken that vision and translated it into 200,000 sq. ft. (18,581 sq m) of new construction that will be functional, comfortable and inviting. The corporate headquarters is on track to be completed at the end of the 2003 to 2004 season.
“The new Baltimore Ravens facilities will combine state-of-the-art sports design, construction and equipment with natural stone, brick masonry, wood paneling, stone fireplaces, pitched roofs and Tudor styling, creating a type of facility that the players will want to use every day of the year,” said Chris Cedergreen, president and managing principal, Forum Studio.
According to Cedergreen, all facilities are designed with the players and their families in mind. “This will be a place where the players will want to come to work and relax, and the campus layout offers opportunities for family events.”
The 110,000-sq.-ft. (10,219 sq m) corporate headquarters facility will feature a brick and stone exterior. The 90,000-sq.-ft. (8,361 sq m) field house, which includes strength training and a full-size indoor practice field, will have an aesthetically appealing exterior constructed of tilt-up concrete, brick and metal. The headquarters, outdoor practice fields and field house are being constructed on 32 acres (12.9 ha) in the Northwest Regional Park in Baltimore County, MD.
Clayco’s project executive on the Ravens facility, Kirk Warden, said the new facility will be a significant improvement over the existing campus, which was built for the Baltimore Colts.
“The facilities will include a full-service kitchen, player support functions, a basketball court, racquetball courts, as well as everything imaginable needed for NFL training, including executive officers, meeting rooms, segregated media and PR areas, three fully-drained outdoor fields and a full-length indoor practice field.
“While the buildings themselves will be of the latest in design-build trends, they also will be steeped in tradition,” said Warden. “Bookcases and trophy cases will highlight the team’s history, and Ravens memorabilia and the team logo will be used throughout the facilities.”
According to Warden, one of the most interesting aspects of this project is that in addition to building its own facilities, the team is sponsoring the construction of an additional field near the site for the community youth, following up on the team’s commitment to the city of Baltimore and its residents.
Clayco is providing complete turnkey delivery of this project, assisting in everything from site selection and development to the final furniture delivery. In addition, the company is committed to using local subcontractors for the construction of the project.
Baltimore-based John Sabo is the project director of Clayco overseeing design and construction and Tom Boland is project superintendent. Greg Smith of Smith Sports International Inc. leads the Ravens project team and has retained SMOOT Construction as the owner’s construction representative.
For more information, visit www.claycorp.com.
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