Storm leaders break ground on first-of-its-kind WNBA training facility

Bulldozers and towering cranes comprised a backdrop beneath a bright midday sun as Storm co-owners, front-office staff and a few players joined Seattle politicians and business leaders who donned green hard hats and drove gold shovels into a mound of dirt Monday to ceremonially start construction of the team’s new practice facility.

“This is for the team,” co-owner Lisa Brummel said while addressing a small crowd that included coach Noelle Quinn, WNBA All-Star Jewell Loyd, center Mercedes Russell and recently retired Storm star Sue Bird. “This is for you. You showed us what it meant to be winners. You showed us what it meant to be competitors and you just kept going. And that tenacity inspires us.

“We want to do something for you. … You should always expect us to be extraordinary and nothing short of that. That’s the bar that we set. If you want to come with us, we welcome you.”

Brummel and team co-owners Ginny Gilder and Dawn Trudeau and their company Force 10 Facilities LLC (F10F) is set to become the first WNBA team with its own training facility that will also serve as a team headquarters.

The Seattle Storm Center for Basketball Performance sits on a 50,000-square-foot parcel in Seattle’s Interbay neighborhood.

A year ago, Brummel estimated the cost of the privately-funded facility “in excess of $60 million” and design plans include two side-by-side basketball courts, locker rooms, a lounge, a nutrition center, strength and conditioning training spaces as well as diagnostics and physical therapy rooms.

“They asked us what do we want?” Loyd said. “What do we use whether it’s a smoothie maker or an ice bath or an underwater treadmill? They’ve been very open and allowing us to create the space that we want. That’s very nice to know our input is getting used.”

The project is scheduled to be completed before the start of the 2024 WNBA season.

Seattle has four players (Ezi Magbegor, Kia Nurse, Sami Whitcomb and Mercedes Russell) on contract through the 2024 season.

“It’s exciting,” said Loyd who will be an unrestricted free agent in 2024. “It’s something new. It’s something that’s much needed. The things that they’ll be able to do year-round in the community and for players is what’s really special.

“It’s something every WNBA team should have and we’ll be one of the very few that has their own dedicated space. It’s pretty cool.”

Since its inception in 2000, the Storm practiced at the Furtado Center across the street from the Seattle Center until the NBA team relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008.

For the past 15 years, the Storm have practiced at Seattle Pacific University’s Royal Brougham Pavilion.

“To be able to house everything in one place for our players from rest and recovery to innovation and resources on the court — all of the things pro athletes need and want in one place is amazing,” Quinn said. “This is an amazing time for this organization and I’m super proud to be apart of this. … It’s great for the organization to garner the support and investment in a facility like this.”

Gilder said she and the Storm co-owners were initially inspired to build their own practice facility in 2018 and last May the team submitted permits to start construction next month.

“I’m super proud of the ownership group for having this vision,” Bird said. “Working with them has always been rewarding. … They’re ahead of the curve to see what could be. Yes, it’ll be a place where players go to throw around a ball and throw around some weights, but it represents so much more than that.”

Mayor Bruce Harrell and Seattle Council President Debora Juarez applauded the Storm for a project in which 85% of the design team and engineers are women and 65% of the subcontracting businesses are led by women or owned by women.

“We don’t do things the way other people do,” Brummel said. “We don’t set the same bar. We’re incredibly intentional about who we choose to go on this journey with. We’ll skip over something that doesn’t fit despite the fact that everyone else might choose them. We don’t. We find the people that fit extraordinary. We find the people who will push us and we find the people who will challenge us to do more than what we can do today.

“The last thing I’ll say is we’re enduring. … We’re here. We’re going to be here. We’re going to keep being here. We’re going to make this city even more proud than they are today of what we do. We’re going to make your kids and their kids proud of what happens in this city for women, for basketball players and for leaders.”