‘Bolts’ practice facility set to exhilarate

Article posted by Coliseum, November 8^th, 2021

Image: Los Angeles Chargers

The National Football League (NFL) team Los Angeles Chargers announced on November 1st that the team has reached an agreement with the Continental Development Corporation to construct its new corporate headquarters and training facility on a 14-acre site in El Segundo, California (US). The project is currently estimated for completion by Spring 2024. The home facility will sit seven miles from the Chargers’ home turf, SoFi Stadium.

The ‘NFL’ quoted team owner Dean Spanos as stating, “When searching for a location to establish our hub of football and business operations, we didn’t leave a single stone unturned. This process played out for more than four years because we weren’t willing to settle. Good enough wasn’t going to cut it. We wanted great, and we finally found it. To be able to develop 14 acres of prime real estate – with the proximity to LAX, SoFi Stadium, Silicon Beach, more Fortune 500 companies in the State (California) than anywhere except San Francisco and, of course, neighbors like the Los Angeles Lakers (NBA team) and Los Angeles Kings (NHL team) … it’s another major step toward building a perennial contender and further rooting ourselves in the community we serve.”

The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles (US) metropolitan area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league’s American Football Conference West division.

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The Chargers play their home games at the 70,000-capacity sparkling SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California (US), which the club shares with the Los Angeles Rams.

The new facility, which will be designed by Gensler Sports, will include a plethora of amenities, such as a roof-top hospitality club, full esports gaming and content studios and a 3,100 square foot media center.

The ‘NFL’ further stated that the project will also see the construction of three natural grass fields with an artificial turf perimeter that will be designed to accommodate bleacher seating for over 5,000 people, allowing the Chargers to host public training camp upon the facility’s opening.

Said Los Angeles Chargers General Manager Tom Telesco, “The look, feel and functionality of your training facility means more today than it ever has in professional sports. Being able to create a building that can grow with technological advances – especially in regard to nutritional needs, strength and performance, injury prevention, medical treatment, and game planning is crucial to sustained success. Everyone knows the margin between wins and losses in the NFL are razor-thin. Any advantage you can create for your coaches and players, you’ll take it. Having a world-class training facility definitely falls into that category.”

The ‘Los Angeles Chargers’ quoted Fred Maas, Chief of Staff, Los Angeles Chargers, as stating, “The opportunity to find a permanent home in Los Angeles has been sort of a crescendo of our recent move back to town.”

Remarked John Spanos, President, Football Operations, Los Angeles Chargers, “This project obviously was a big undertaking. So, it took a lot of time and a lot of people’s hard work over a long period of time.”

Informed John Zanetos of Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis (CBRE), “We looked at over 40 sites to find the right site to bring the organization to Los Angeles and change the landscape of the City. We couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome.”

Added John Spanos, “We needed to find a home that was right for us. That was unique to the Chargers.”

The ‘Los Angeles Chargers’ further quoted Ron Turner of Gensler Sports as stating, “Los Angeles Chargers is all about giving their players and giving their staff great places to work. I think it is best to create a piece of architecture that actually embraces the passion of the team.”

The Chargers building is unique as Spanos further stated, “When you think of Chargers, you think of a sleek and sharp design and when you look at their building, I think it is exactly that.”

Added Maas, “The architect of the practice facility is one of the renowned worldwide architects – Gensler Sports – based here at Los Angeles that has been involved in a number of these facilities.”

Asserted Eric Randolph of Gensler Sports, “There is no doubt that this building belongs to the Chargers and there is no doubt that this building belongs in Los Angeles.”

John Spanos continued, “I think a big part of the vision was having a home that’s really our home for 365 days a year. Located in a part of Southern California in a beach town, you are really close to the SoFi Stadium, you are really close to LAX and you are conveniently located to many parts of LA.”

Phillip Ruhl of CBRE said that the practice facility of the Charges will be a “24/7 action world”.

The state of the art training facility will boast natural grass fields, three-level design and hospitality club. There will be a lot of urban spaces, a huge viewing deck and the opportunities are really unlimited. Community first will be the spirit of the project.

Added Randolph, “Of all the buildings that we have done, this one I believe is probably one of the very best.”

Maas maintained, “The architecture is iconic, a true state-of-the-art kind and the building speak in volumes as to what the Los Angeles Chargers mean to LA.”

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