It’s been almost a year since the Toronto Raptors announced their plans to build a stand-alone training complex.

A full-framed building surrounded by “We The North” posters now sprouts from the construction site, located on the western edge of the CNE grounds. The current Raptors organization’s dream to physically solidify and maximize their team’s rising presence within the local community is becoming more real each day.

Slated for January 2016 completion, this vision has been proposed several times over the course of the Raptors’ 20-year history in the NBA. With the recent announcement of Raptors 905, the Mississauga-based Raptors NBA Developmental League affiliate team, the Toronto Raptors’ Training Complex project is another prominent fixture to attract the current and future generations of Canadian basketball talent.

Despite former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s efforts to shut down the Training Complex bid late last August, the Toronto City Council ultimately approved the plan for the $30-million-dollar state-of-the-art facility. This municipal win encapsulates many of the Tim Leiweke/Masai Ujiri administration’s philosophies: a competitive advantage for the Raptors, a practice space for the Canadian national basketball team, a location to host events during the 2016 NBA All-Star Weekend, and a hub for the Toronto and Ontario basketball communities to use during the NBA off-season.

“This has been a discussion that has been tabled a few times over the years,” says David DeFreitas, the team’s Director of Community, Sport and Player Relations. “It was really once Tim Leiweke and Masai [Ujiri] came to the organization that it did actually start to get some traction. Having Tim and Masai really spearhead those discussions, really took it from conceptual to movement with respect to the project.”

For the Raptors, the training facility will feature numerous components to help the team’s coaches and players prepare for big games. Most notably, it will be a complete upgrade from the current Raptors training space located inside the Air Canada Centre. There will be two regulation-sized NBA courts, a large medical area, a full hydrotherapy zone, and an athletic training room that will be twice the size of their current one.

“The goal of the complex is to create a space that works for us, rather than [us] having to work within it, which is the situation we have now,” explains Teresa Resch, the Raptors’ Senior Director of Basketball Operations and Player Development.

Not only of benefit to the players, Resch stresses that the complex will also provide space for the team’s coaching staff—including individual offices and a much larger conference room than they have now—making it easier to communicate both amongst themselves and with the players.

“Right now our poor guys work out of a little closet,” says Resch. “It’s going to be just a better working environment for a lot of our staff.”

Aside from representing a cultural growth that Ujiri is working hard to build, over time the complex could also help retain and attract talent.

“The players [on the team] are very much aware of this facility being built. They are very excited about it,” says DeFreitas. “I think like any player, if you know you have a first-class facility being made, the investment the organization is putting into the resources they need to allow [the players] to be successful on the court [is exciting].”

The Raptors aren’t the only NBA franchise thinking along these lines. The team is just one of 17 who’ve either built or are in the process of building a stand-alone training centre for their staff and players.

On June 17, the Minnesota Timberwolves held their grand opening for their new state-of-the-art complex at Mayo Clinic Square. In a press release from the building’s opening, T-Wolves CEO Rob Moor described it as a “game changer.” Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonsis wrote on his blog this past November that they too would like to build a complex—however, plans have yet to be finalized.

What sets the Raptors’s facility apart from many of the others across the league is its prominent location. Set in the heart of the city, the building is easy to reach and figures into an already scenic spot overlooking both Lake Ontario and the city’s downtown skyline. As a result, the team’s players can live nearby and still engage with the city’s downtown.

Players can also run charity and educational events during off-days. Early Raptor greats helped inspire the current wave of Toronto-bred talent like Andrew Wiggins and Tristan Thompson. Now, in their off-seasons, those homegrown stars have the ability to return to their communities and motivate the next generation of aspiring basketball players.

“[The city] has been able to see some local talent make it on that stage and a lot of it has to do with the early players that we’ve had. The Vince Carters and the Damon Stoudemires,” says DeFreitas. “Having those kids look up to those guys and having the kids participate in Vince Carter basketball camps and see these players on TV has allowed the next generation of players to come from the city. You can only imagine what it’s going to be like in 10 years when kids who have been watching DeMar and Kyle play. That’s what’s exciting for us to see as an organization… to see the growth of the sport.”

Perceived for years as an unknown entity, Toronto is becoming entrenched on the world’s basketball map. Whether it’s on Twitter with the #WeTheNorth campaign, or in the frenzied scene around the Air Canada Centre’s Jurassic Park during the past two post-seasons, there is a legitimate buzz in the air. And now, with the recent Raptor signing of Toronto-born Cory Joseph, the city has even more to be excited about. The new training complex is another stepping stone to build off that enthusiasm and show the level of commitment the organization has to their players, city and country.

Images courtesy Daniel Reed. Follow him on Twitter.