Photos: Rector Field House, English Field at Union Park Suites

We had a chance recently to tour the updates to English Field at Union Park and Rector Field House, and we snapped a few photos to share with you.

This isn't meant to be a comprehensive update of the work done to those two facilities, just a quick update with some pics to give you an idea of what has transpired.

English Field Luxury Suites

The work at English Field at Union Park has been well-documented here on TechSideline.com. It was finished during the 2018 baseball season, though some minor wrap-up work is still being done.

English Field now has four luxury suites, which are rentable on three-year contracts. All suites have been rented. Here's a look at the suites.

Rector Field House Improvements

For Rector Field House, the big news is the addition of an indoor throws facility for the highly-successful Virginia Tech Track and Field programs, as well as an indoor regulation-sized softball infield practice area, plus pitching areas and batting cages. Those updates are detailed in 2016 hokiesports.com press releases here and here.

Here is a floor plan drawing released in 2016, showing (among other things) the location of the new throws facility and softball facility.

Here's a look at the updated Rector Field House from Lot 4 (near the entrance to the outdoor track). You can see the roof structure of the original facility in the background. (For comparison's sake, click here to see what Rector looked like, pre-construction.)

Track and Field Improvements

Here's a view of the new indoor track installed in the main body of Rector Field House. In this view, the East side (facing Tech Softball Park and Lane Stadium) of Rector is to the right, and the West side of Rector (towards English Field at Union Park) is to the left. Distance runners will be able to use the flat surface outside the banked track for year-round training.

The new throws area, located on the southeast corner of the building, will feature two throws areas, one for the weight throw and one for the shot put. The area will include a javelin runway, a discus area and a hammer cage. It also will feature fluid seating, to allow spectators to view multiple events in the arena. The addition will be connected to the main arena and will be used for both practice and competition.

Here's a panoramic view of the throws area, which will be jazzed up with Virginia Tech graphics soon, to liven up the white walls. In this view, the windows on the far side face Virginia Tech's outdoor track.

Softball Indoor Facility

The exciting news for Virginia Tech Softball is the addition of two new practice areas. One area contains three pitching practice areas and four batting cages, and the other contains a fully-enclosed, indoor, regulation-size infield.

Here's a look at the pitching practice area and batting cages. Granted, it's not a good look, because this area is very long and narrow, and this is a photo from one end.

Now here's a panoramic look at the indoor infield practice area. This image is shot from slightly up the first-base line. Graphics will be added to the walls soon.

Facilities-wise, Virginia Tech softball is one of the top three programs in the ACC. New head coach Pete D'Amour should be able to take full advantage of these great facilities in recruiting.

While facilities projects like the new football indoor facility, updates to English Field, and the planned Student-Athlete Performance Center draw all the press and attention, the additions for track and softball are huge boons those programs, and are very exciting stuff.