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Raptors Practice Facility Gets Green Light From City Council

Raptors.com

The Raptors practice facility is moving a little further away in order to bring everyone in the organization a lot closer. 

That was confirmed earlier this week after Toronto City Council officially gave the go-ahead to build a new MLSE-funded practice facility at Exhibition Place downtown.

Described as a "new high performance basketball development and training centre" it's going to be a major upgrade on the team's current facilities and offices, which are spread out on multiple floors at Air Canada Centre. 

The new two-story, 64,000-square-foot building will add a second court and streamline the team's day-to-day operations, with training and treatment facilities, offices for coaching staff and basketball operations staff, a players locker room and lounge, video viewing room, dining area and much more. 

When the Raptors aren't using the facility, thousands of Torontonians will also benefit from the state of the art new facility through Toronto Parks and Recreation programs, school boards (TDSB, TCDSB), the Ontario Basketball Association (OBA), the Canadian National Exhibition Association (CNEA) and other community grassroots associations.

Canada Basketball -- which is sponsored by the Raptors -- will also use the building for training and development. 

The timing of Monday's vote at City Hall was also crucial as it puts construction on track to begin this fall with an expected completion date just before Toronto hosts NBA All-Star festivities in February of 2016.

Check out a southwest rendering of the facility, plus site and floor plans of how everything is expected to be built below.

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