Seton Hall basketball: new photos, details of proposed practice facility

Jerry Carino
Asbury Park Press

Details on Seton Hall University’s plans for a new basketball practice facility are coming into view.

A video recently sent to potential donors explains the facility as consisting of “a full court, two half-courts, a free-throw basket, a new locker room and lounge for the players, a game room, a strength and conditioning area, a sports medicine room, coaches’ offices and a film room.”

The video shows the proposed facility as a multi-floor extension onto the back and side of the current Richie Regan Recreation and Athletic Center. The university has contracted with Cannon Design, the architect for the University of Maryland’s recent practice-facility projects for football and basketball.

Seton Hall athletics director Bryan Felt has previously ballparked the cost at $40 million and targeted the summer of 2023 for groundbreaking. The university is still in the process of gaining approval from South Orange’s planning board. Some concerns had been raised by residents of Newark's adjacent Ivy Hill neighborhood about potential flooding and stormwater runoff – a concern the university says it addressed in the planning of the renovation (ultimately, Newark has no jurisdiction over the project).

On Jan. 5, the university posted the following to its website: “Seton Hall decided to postpone its practice facility application in order to provide the Planning Board’s engineer with clarifying information requested at the December meeting. We are compiling and will be providing this information shortly. We fully intend to proceed with the application after submitting the requested materials.”

Currently the men’s basketball team practices in the no-frills auxiliary gym in the basement while the women’s program uses Walsh Gym. The plan has been to fund as much of the new facility as possible with donations, although the university floated $109 million in bonds for major construction projects involving the basketball facility, the student center and student-housing.

Here are screen shots of renderings of the project as seen in the video for donors:

Screen shot of the exterior of the proposed basketball facility addition at Seton Hall
Screen shot of the exterior of the proposed basketball facility addition at Seton Hall
Screen shot of the practice court in the proposed basketball facility addition at Seton Hall
Screen shot of the proposed basketball facility addition at Seton Hall
Screen shot of the lounge area of the proposed basketball facility addition at Seton Hall
Screen shot of the lounge area of the proposed basketball facility addition at Seton Hall

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.