Penn State football has started its move into the renovated portion of the Lasch Building
The Penn State football program is nearing the completion of its $48.3 million project to renovate the Lasch Building. However, not everything is ready yet.
Head coach James Franklin said at Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis that the project was a bit behind schedule.
“I actually had an opportunity to walk through it the other day and was very impressed,” Franklin said, before moving onto more discussion about the rest of the program’s headquarters.
“We still have not touched our second floor, which is where the coaches are, except we did get carpet. We got new carpet in the last 30 years, so that was a step in that area. But that was very important to me when we came to Penn State, that we take care of the players’ areas first. So I think the plan is right now at the end of the season we would finish that last stage of our last football building and then kind of go from there.”
Where do things stand now?
Of course, the plan was to have the renovated part of Lasch finished by the time the season kicked off. Since the end of last year, the Penn State weight room has been set up inside of Holuba Hall. Other areas that were housed where construction currently continues were, too. But, a key part has been completed now that preseason camp is underway.
Where does Penn State stand with its Lasch Building renovation?
Franklin was asked to update where Penn State stands in that regard on Wednesday night during the second week of camp. The long and short of it is that things are coming along. We’ll start with the good news: Penn State mostly does have access to the part it wanted to at the start of camp.
“We’re in the training room, which is really nice,” Franklin said. “We’re really pleased with it. That was the priority. We basically had to kind of choose to be able to get into it. We couldn’t function with the training room the way we had it in the spring.
“So, we were able to get that done. So we’re in that. It’s not, like, totally done, but it’s done enough that we can get into it.”
But, as anyone currently working on a building or renovation project knows, delays are the name of the game. So, some parts of the plan are not quite ready yet.
“The weight room, we still have some work to do,” Franklin said. “And then again, we kind of staggered it. So, the back lobby and nutrition bar, that’s going to be the last one. So, I don’t have exact dates. Because, as we all know, all over the country and all over the world, there’s things that are coming in a little bit slower, back orders, and things like that.
“But based on the schedule, I think we’ll be alright with what we need. Because we can still do the weight room [in Holuba].”
When Penn State will be fully moved in is not yet known. But, once the work is complete, the Lions will have many new amenities to work with.
Lions are looking forward to what’s ahead
When all is said and done, Penn State will have the following via the expansion:
“The multi-million dollar project at Penn State includes not just an expanded weight training facility but also “performance enhancement equipment upgrades.” It will also have “The “5th Quarter Program,” “which is designed to help student-athletes successfully transition from high school to college, and then from college to the professional ranks through life skills and education program,” and “sports medicine upgrades,” per a news release.”
We talked to a few Penn State first-year players back in June to see what they looked most forward to once the work was complete.
“I’m excited to get our weight room back,” Penn State offensive lineman Landon Tengwall said with a laugh. “Obviously, I love to be able to go in there. I’m excited. I didn’t even know we were going to have glass to just look out on the field (see photo above). It’s going to be really nice.
“I’m excited. I love the weight room. I’m normally in it like every single day, even if you know, we’re not in there. I’m really excited for that to be finished.”
Added receiver Harrison “Trey” Wallace:
“New equipment, expansion; we’ll have turf in there, so we won’t have to come outside. We can do everything inside, like on a rainy day. Everything will be in there that we need.”
