Strength center bids to begin

School has secured a $1 million budget for its construction.

Georgia State Athletic Director Charlie Cobb said he hopes to have the new strength-and-conditioning center built and ready to use by Aug. 1.

The university put out a request for proposal Tuesday for the construction of the building. The RFP has to stay out for at least two weeks. As soon as the bids are in, one can be selected. The decision will be made jointly between the athletic department and the university’s design-and-construction department.

The bid-opening will occur before March 1. It shouldn’t take more than a few days to select a winner and begin discussing the project with that company.

Cobb said the facility will be a modular building of approximately 7,000 square feet. The size may be adjusted depending upon the cost. The building will be integrated into the side of the football team’s practice facility on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The land has been roped off for several weeks.

Cobb said there is $1 million in the budget for the construction, but he hopes the cost doesn’t exceed $700,000. The budget doesn’t include the cost of the equipment that will be used in the building.

Football coach Trent Miles said the building is needed to improve player development and as a re- cruiting tool.

Fundraising for the building has been going on for more than a year and started under Cobb’s predecessor, Cheryl Levick.

The target date of Aug. 1 is because that is when the football team likely will start practicing for next season.

All of Georgia State’s 15 men’s and women’s teams lift weights in a room that is in the GSU Sports Arena. Because of the room’s small size, the football team works out in shifts.