The Los Angeles Sparks will become the latest sports franchise to strike out and establish their own home.

The team announced late last month that it will construct a 55,000-square-foot practice facility in El Segundo, to the tune of $150 million. It expects a relatively quick turnaround, with plans to open the facility in 2027.

It will be the team’s first dedicated space, as it has to this point utilized commercial facilities or shared training areas with other athletic operations.

“We’re building a place where Sparks players can be at their best on and off the court,” said Eric Holoman, managing partner and governor of the Sparks, in a statement. “From cutting-edge training and recovery spaces to family and community areas, every corner of this facility was designed with them at the center. It reflects our commitment to our team, our fans, and the city of Los Angeles, and sets a new standard for what a professional sports organization can provide for its athletes.”

New digs

The team said the new facility will sport the Women’s National Basketball Association’s first ever “indoor-outdoor player
sanctuary.”

This sanctuary will include a spa pool for recovery and rehabilitation, napping rooms, flexible wellness spaces and hydrotherapy suites. Athletic offerings will include two league-regulation basketball courts, an extensive weight room and a circular locker room.

The structure – designed by Gensler – is slated to make significant use of windows and retractable doors to offer sunlight throughout the facility, including in the weight room. The interior is being designed by Studio Blitz, a San Francisco-based women-run architecture and design firm with an office in Culver City.

The $150 million price tag reportedly makes the facility the most expensive in WNBA history.

“This facility will set a new standard in the league, reflecting the Sparks’ commitment to excellence on and off the court and reinforcing El Segundo’s status as a premier destination for professional sports,” El Segundo Mayor Christ Pimental said in a statement.

Houston-based Transwestern advised the Sparks on the land acquisition and will serve as its development manager. The team did not yet reveal the address of the location. A Sparks official did not respond to an interview request.

Joining the club

The Sparks aren’t the only team in town with sights on a
new home.

Years after relocating to L.A., the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers last year occupied The Bolt – its headquarters and practice facility – also in EL Segundo. The Los Angeles Rams earlier this year unveiled plans for a unified headquarters and practice facility in Woodland Hills, where the team already has a temporary practice setup installed.

Notably, Gensler helmed both of these designs as well.

Elsewhere in basketball, the Los Angeles Clippers debuted their dual home court and training facility in Inglewood, Intuit Dome, last year.

The Sparks have had a nomadic training routine for some time. Right now, the team trains at JR286, a sports equipment company, in Torrance. Prior to that, the team shared facilities at El Camino College for several seasons, and in the 2021 season, the team practiced at Academy USA, a sports club in Glendale.

Then-head coach Derek Fisher speculated to reporters in 2021 that the Sparks would eventually plant roots in a home of their own.

“They deserve a space like this,” Fisher said at a news conference at Academy in Glendale that year. “We’re going to get to a point one day where the Los Angeles Sparks have a training facility that is for us.”