Let's try to keep the "rumors" portion of this under control.
We are now on Page 8, based on a guy (Andrew Farrelli) posting a "rumor" that the location of the new Hecht will be squarely on Cobb Stadium (the track-and-field track).
That is not the rumor that I heard, and I have discussed this with a certain freaky Canes poster, and he should be asking a few questions at the next AD Society meeting.
Here are some relevant things to consider.
---The IM Fields will not be eliminated. It is true that the IM Fields got larger when the Army Armory building was torn down, so maaaaaybe they could get a little bit smaller, but not removed entirely. There are a number of reasons why the IM Fields will stay where they are, particularly involving parking and lighting. Contrary to certain dismissive comments made by certain porsters, the IM Fields are used quite a bit. The Band of the Hour uses the fields during the afternoons in the fall semester for practice, due to the fact that all the instruments/uniforms are stored at the Frost School of Music directly north of the IM Fields. The fields are used Monday-Thursday, from 6-9 pm, for intramural sports. The fields are used for various club sports that do not have dedicated facilities of their own. The fields are used for certain regular events, such as SportsFest and Dean's Cup. The fields are used for weekend sports, such as the Law School Softball League. Finally, it is incredibly unrealistic to believe that the IM Fields would ever get the approval to be moved to Granada, based on the parking and lighting issues mentioned earlier. The current location is across the street from St. Augustine's Catholic Church and a handful of houses who have lived with the IM Fields for at least 40 years, so the IM Fields aren't moving anywhere.
---Cobb Stadium (the track) is unlikely to be moved, due to the proximity of the Hecht and the coaches offices. Now, it is the ONLY facility that could/would make sense for relocation to Granada, simply because it would not require the same parking/lighting as the IM Field relocation would. If this ever happened, you would want to build a small Track office/locker rooms off of Carillo next to WestLab, which might make some sense given the overall expansion of Athletics facilities. To be honest, I don't even know if you have enough space to build a legitimate 1/4 mile track off of Granada, unless Carillo was turned into a cul-de-sac in front of WestLab. Anyhow, just some thoughts here, we've had 40 years of "not" using the Granada land for anything (including something relatively low-impact, like the track), so I wouldn't bet my paycheck (or even your paycheck) on this happening.
---I've always heard that the plan was to implode "old Hecht" and build "new Hecht" in the same footprint. This makes the most sense when coupled with the "five-story building" projection. You don't build "up" if you are just getting rid of the track, as the footprint of the track is at least 4 times the size of the footprint of "old Hecht" original building from the 1970s (not counting more recent portions, like the IPF, the HOF, or the Schwartz Center). This is also the most workable plan, as you would be displacing administrative offices for about a year (or two, max), which could be done with modular buildings without having to move one or more sport (the actual participation part, not the administrative part, which would in fact be relocated during construction). Let's not forget, Miami occasionally hosts track meets, this isn't just "let's move the team practices to Coral Gables High".
If I were a betting person (and I'm not), I could possibly see the field inside of the Cobb track being used for another football practice field when the outer IPF field is extended another 30-40 yards southward onto Greentree. And to be really, Really, REALLY honest, that's the only thing that I think would cause UM to move the track, which would be using that space for a "new" second full-length Greetree field once the easternmost Greentree field loses some length.
