New One Buc Place

While I was in the neighborhood, I thought I'd take a picture or two of the current construction scene for the new Bucs' training complex which will replace One Buc Place (click any pic on this site for larger version). The new, state-of-the-art facility is quite large and has 3 fields going in place behind this building. In the front is the signature piece; a large, soon to be all glass, football structure, which will leave no doubt what this facility is for.

The current plans, last I heard, were for the Bucs to move into this facility when they come back from Training Camp in Orlando. Since so much of the Bucs equipment is moved during the Training Camp session, it represents the best opportunity for them to simply set the equipment back up within the new complex. That would, of course, save them an additional moving step should they hit their target date. The facility has had a lot of work done in the last two months, so I wouldn't doubt that they'll have it ready by the time the Bucs break from camp in August. But it will certainly be tight. When I took these pictures there were hoards of construction workers all over the place. Behind the building, the bases of the goal posts are already up. They just need to mount the poles on each side of each goal post. I couldn't quite tell if the fields were in place yet or not, as I'm sure they want to wait until all the heavy equipment is finished being used in the back. The picture below is the side of the building from MacDill and MLK. You can begin to get a feel for the size of the facility. The main building is probably larger than the entire One Buc Place, fields included.