Hawks part-owner Mit Shah has donated $5 million in support of the Wake Forest basketball player development facility currently under construction at the university.
Work began in November for the Shah Basketball Complex which will be connected to the Sutton Sports Performance Center and the Miller Center and is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2018.
The $12 million project includes the construction of the state-of-the art $9 million Shah Basketball Complex, as well as a $3 million investment on the third floor of the Sutton Sports Performance Center. More than 40,000 square feet will be dedicated solely to Wake Forest basketball.
“The Shah Basketball Complex creates an incredible advantage for our program,” said men’s basketball head coach and former Hawks player Danny Manning in a statement. “Thanks to Mit’s continued leadership and generosity, we’re going from one of the oldest and least efficient facilities in the ACC to one of the very best in the country. As we continue to build the foundation for our program to compete for championships, the Shah Basketball Complex will serve as our hub for skill development, strength training and nutrition and enhance our ability to recruit the very best student-athletes where we can help them to be stronger, faster, more knowledgeable, more capable, and thus extraordinarily successful on and off the court.”
Shah previously donated $2.5 million to the university for investments in academic resources, university facilities and student financial aid.
Shah is the CEO of Noble Investment Group and part owner Hawks with the group led by principal owner Tony Ressler. He is a 1991 graduate of Wake Forest, where he competed as a walk-on on the men’s tennis team. He is currently a member of the school’s Board of Trustees.
“Wake Forest is a community where our professors and coaches create a deeply personal, profound and lifelong impact on our students and student-athletes,” Shah said in a statement. “Our responsibility remains to these young men and women who eagerly arrive on our campus, who are then embraced and mentored by our caring community and whose personal and professional development takes place in our best-in-class facilities.”
Shah will be honored during the first half of Saturday’s men’s basketball game against Duke.
Construction is currently on-going on a new practice facility for the Hawks in partnership with Emory Healthcare. It is scheduled to open in October of 2018.
