Breakdown of the renovations at Neville and JHS

Auburn’s Board of Trustees approved the $9 million renovations to Neville Arena Friday morning in Montgomery.

The renovations to 22,500 square feet within Neville Arena will enhance the existing practice gym. The goal is to enlarge team meeting and office spaces within the basketball program suites.

In February of 2022, the BOT approved the initiation of building an additional basketball practice gym at Neville Arena. According to the meeting’s materials, the architect selection process was approved in April of that year.

The renovation that was approved Friday won’t be the same as what was approved in 2022. The final decision of providing enhancements to current team facilities, as well as the building’s scholarship lobby, were announced by Auburn Vice President of Facilities Management Jim Carroll.

“The combined efforts of these renovation investments yield enhanced spaces for each one of our sports teams, so volleyball, women’s and men’s basketball,” Carroll said. “The athletics director and coaches of all three teams are very supportive of and excited for these changes to the team spaces, as this change solves the original scope challenges while offering a significant savings to the university.”

Auburn coach Bruce Pearl acknowledged the wait for the renovations due to the rise of NIL at the time of its original approval.

“We’ve got to take care of the NIL space first -- in all sports,” Pearl said in September 2022. “First, that’s got to be one of our commitments and our objectives.... We’ve got some other things to take care of before we take care of the practice facility.”

The BOT also voted on the approval of an architect and construction manager for a multi-use facility in the Jordan-Hare Stadium north end zone.

Selected for the project were HOK Architects of Kansas City, Missouri, and Robins & Morton out of Birmingham as construction manager. CDFL Architects + Engineers and Workshop Architects will join as associate architects.

Costing the university 25.7 million, Auburn athletic director John Cohen believes these changes will keep Auburn as one of the top programs in the country.

“We are appreciative of the Board of Trustees’ approval of HOK Group and CDFL and Workshop as project architects and Robins & Morton as construction manager for the north end zone multi-use facility at Jordan-Hare Stadium,” Cohen said in a statement. “This is another step in ensuring Jordan-Hare Stadium remains one of the preeminent facilities in college football.”

Jerry Humphrey III covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Jerryhump3 or email him at JHumphreyIII@al.com.