Work Begins on New Georgia Tech Athletic Performance Center
By Eric Althoff
ATLANTA—Construction has started on the Thomas A. Fanning Student Athlete Performance Center, a 100,000-square-foot facility at Georgia Tech that will house facilities dedicated to nutrition, sports medicine, strength training and mental health services. Additionally, the Fanning Center will feature meeting spaces to be used exclusively by Georgia Tech football and support staff. The Fanning Center will also house Georgia Tech’s first sports science lab, wherein technicians will make use of in-house data analytics programs to track individual performance.
Designed by the S/L/A/M Collaborative (SLAM), the Fanning Center will feature several sustainability efforts including repurposing steel from the campus’s Bobby Dodd Stadium. (Fanning Center will be part of the Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field complex.) The Fanning Center’s carbon footprint will also be partially offset with such energy-saving design elements as cross-laminated timber placed throughout the new athletic facility. The center is being constructed atop the footprint of the former Edge/Rice Center.
The Fanning Center is named in honor of alumnus Dr. Thomas A. Fanning, whose dedication to forward-thinking energy usage serves as a model for the Georgia Tech community. Fanning also served at various times on the Georgia Tech Foundation Board of Trustees, the Georgia Tech Advisory Board, the Alexander-Tharpe Fund Board of Directors, the Scheller College of Business Advisory Board and Transforming Tomorrow: The Campaign for Georgia Tech Steering Committee, where he serves as co-chair.
Fanning was one of several honored attendees at the recent groundbreaking—including several designers and builders who graduated from Georgia Tech.
“This is an incredibly exciting day for Georgia Tech athletics, as we move one step closer to delivering a first-class, state-of-the-art facility for our student-athletes,” said Director of Athletics J Batt. “We’re thankful for the generosity of Tom Fanning and all our generous supporters who have donated to this project, for the visionary leadership of [Georgia Tech President] Dr. [Ángel] Cabrera, and for our partners at SLAM and DPR Construction, all of whom have been integral in reaching this milestone.”
“It’s been incredibly special to have led the design for my alma mater, creating a new epicenter of athletics that is holistically dedicated to student-athletes’ success,” SLAM lead architect and principal Marc Clear said at the ceremony. “The groundbreaking of the Thomas A. Fanning Student-Athlete Performance Center is an exciting milestone in creating this technology-rich home for GT Athletics.”
Added Brian Oliver, DPR Construction project executive, and also a Georgia Tech alumnus: “As the college athletics landscape evolves, we’re thrilled to start bringing Georgia Tech’s vision for student-athletes and its campus to life.”
During his time at Georgia Tech, Oliver was part of the NCAA Final Four men’s basketball team in 1990.
“We’re also proud that this project will help support opportunities for local workers in the skilled trades, many of whom feel personal connections with the campus and its athletic program,” Oliver said.
The Fanning Center is due to open in the spring of 2026.