Celtics to Build ‘World-Class’ Practice Facility at Boston Landing
Meet Allston-Brighton’s newest residents: the Boston Celtics.
The Celtics and New Balance Development announced Tuesday that the team will build a “world-class,” 70,000 square-foot training and practice facility, designed by Elkus Manfredi, at Boston Landing, the 15-acre, mixed-use project already home to New Balance Athletics headquarters.
”We are proud to team with New Balance Development in the creation of a best-in-class athletic training and practice facility that will provide Celtics players, coaches, and training staff with the resources, technology, and programming to compete at the highest level in an increasingly competitive NBA landscape,” Celtics president Rich Gotham in a release. “The Boston Landing location will bring us closer to our game day home at the TD Garden while providing high impact brand visibility.”
By “high impact brand visibility,” Gotham means all 17 of the Celtics’ NBA championship banners visible from the Mass. Pike, as well as a 40-foot glass wall allowing commuters a clear view of the facility’s two parquet practice courts.
The Celtics’ swanky new digs will include a state-of-the-art strength and conditioning facility, a players’ lounge, hydrotherapy pools, science and nutrition facilities, a media work room, and work space for the front office staff.
The C’s, who have practiced at Healthpoint in Waltham since 1999, will join their TD Garden bunkmate Bruins, who announced in 2014 that they would partner with Warrior to build a new practice rink at Boston Landing.
NB Development managing director Jim Halliday said he was thrilled to welcome the C’s to Boston Landing, which he says will further reinforce the idea of area as the “gateway into the City of Boston from the west.”
Construction is expected to begin in fall 2016, with an anticipated spring 2018 completion, a year after the Boston Landing commuter rail stop is expected to be finished.