Longwood men’s and women’s basketball is set to have a new home court, as an official announcement Wednesday confirmed the planned construction of the Joan Perry Brock Center directly between Willett Hall and Dorrill Dining Hall.
The new university convocation and events center, headed by an institution-record $15 million gift from philanthropist Joan Brock ’64, is projected to be completed by the spring of 2022. According to the April 10 press release, the total cost of the building is estimated between $35 and $40 million, with financing overseen by the Longwood University Real Estate Foundation.
“The Joan Perry Brock Center will be a jewel in the crown of Brock Commons, and it means the world that Longwood students will be walking to these great university events, concerts and basketball games right in the very heart of campus,” Longwood University President W. Taylor Reveley IV said in the release.
Longwood is not unfamiliar with donations by Brock and her late husband, Macon Brock, as they previously donated $5.9 million in 2016 to create “Brock Experiences” which has students explore issues by travelling to different sites across the United States. Brock Commons and Brock Hall, one of the newest buildings on campus, was also made possible by their gifts.
Still in the early design stages, the center plans to host “touring musicians and other performers” as well as host campus ceremonies and events. Reveley hopes to host a future general election debate in the new center following hosting the 2016 Vice Presidential Debate, but has officially ruled out potential consideration in 2020.
Primarily, the facility will be the new home of men’s and women’s Division I basketball, moving Jerome Kersey Court out of Willett Hall into the Joan Perry Brock Center.
Preliminary planning shows their new arena holding a capacity between 2,500 and 3,000 seats, an upgrade from the current capacity of 1,807 in Willett Hall.
“Willett Hall has been a fantastic home to our basketball programs for four decades now, and there is palpable history within its walls,” said Interim Athletics Director Michelle Meadows in the release. “It will continue to serve as our basketball home for the next several years while the Brock Center is constructed, and it will undoubtedly play host to many more historic moments.”
Longwood’s home tennis courts are planned to be relocated this coming summer off Brock Commons, a “few hundred yards to the south.” According to the release, initial designs show a passageway running between Willett Hall and the Joan Perry Brock Center, connecting Brock Commons and Curry and Frazer residence halls, which are currently in the process of being remodeled.
The official timetable for the construction of the new center is not yet known.
The proposed convocation center is still in the early design stages, but will be home to Jerome Kersey Court which is currently located in Willett Hall.