March 6, 2006

NEW FOGGY BOTTOM HOME FOR GW COLONIALS?

The #6 national rating for the GW basketball team has reignited talk at the George Washington University campus about a new home for the GW Colonials, who currently play in the Charles E. Smith Center on G St. NW. The Smith Center has a capacity of about 5,000.

Though the stadium is not sold out every game, the size of a team's area fuels an athletic program. With a larger venue, GW could generate more revenue and excitement for the program, thus attracting quality players and coaches.

One idea would be blow out the back wall of the gym and raise the roof to almost double the capacity of the arena to 7,000 or 8,000 or so. An increase in the size of Smith Center likely would face stiff opposition from the Foggy Bottom ANC and is further complicated by a row of new townhouses on 23rd St. Other improvements that have been discussed include building luxury boxes and a new glass enclosed entrance at 22nd and G Streets.

Academic architects the DLR Group and Clough Harbour & Associates LLP have studied the expansion concept.

pix by DLR Architects

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You'd think Trachtenberg would pay for a new entrance. if he can pay for a hippo, he should pay for a little steel and glass

Anonymous said...

The $45 million project is ready to be rolled out - fundraising to begin shortly according to V.P. Chernak. Where do i send the check! :)
p.s. - Hello from your old roomie...NJC

Anonymous said...

Very cool! I've also heard they were thinking about dropping the floor to allow more seats. Go Colonials!