Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P. President | St. John's University website

St. John’s University has been awarded a $3 million New York State Higher Education Capital Matching Grant (HECap) to help finance the construction of a new basketball practice facility on its Queens, NY campus. The facility will cater to the needs of the Red Storm’s Men’s and Women’s Basketball programs and will be located adjacent to Gate 4 at 175th Street and Union Turnpike.

The project will also include renovations to Taffner Field House, transforming it into a comprehensive campus recreation center. “The Board of Trustees and I are committed to securing the resources needed to provide our Men’s and Women’s Basketball players, coaches, administrators, and staff with exceptional spaces for practice, conditioning, learning, and preparation so that they can compete at the highest level,” said Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P., President of St. John’s University. “This new practice facility will help to accomplish that goal.”

Rev. Shanley expressed gratitude for the support from DASNY (Dormitory Authority of the State of New York) and acknowledged New York State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky for her role in advancing their application process.

The envisioned 50,000-square-foot facility aims to attract top talent by providing high-quality operations and training space comparable to those of other BIG EAST Conference schools. It will feature courts, locker rooms, training areas, office spaces, film rooms, interactive recruiting spaces, among other amenities.

Gensler, an architecture firm specializing in design and planning globally, has been contracted for the design phase of both the basketball practice facility and the campus recreation center. The basketball practice facility is expected to be completed by Spring 2027 while the recreation center is slated for Fall 2028.

In this round of HECap funding totaling $38 million in capital project grants awarded statewide, St. John’s was one of 33 private nonprofit colleges selected through a competitive process. This $3 million grant represents the maximum award eligible under this round's criteria.

Established in 2005, HECap supports private colleges by fostering construction jobs and stimulating economic activity within their communities. Recipients must match every dollar received with three dollars from institutional funds.

Since its inception in 2005 until now with these latest awards announced on June 26th by its three-member board appointed by state legislative leaders and the governor respectively; HECap has distributed $368.1 million across various projects resulting in over $1 billion investments throughout New York State.