INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Pacers coach Nate McMillan called it, “a fitness center on steroids.”

St. Vincent Center, the team’s new state-of-the-art Downtown training facility, was unveiled Thursday during a ribbon-cutting ceremony that featured governor Eric Holcomb, Mayor Joe Hogsett and officials from the Pacers and St. Vincent Health. The five-story, 130,000-square foot facility took 18 months to build, and will give the Pacers one of the best, if not the best, practice facility in the National Basketball Association.

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Located across the street from Bankers Life Fieldhouse, the facility's features include two NBA-regulation courts, an enormous weight room, saunas, whirlpools, a video room featuring movie theater-style seats, a locker room, a player’s lounge and a training room.

With the team retooling its roster this offseason after trading Paul George, the organization wanted a practice facility that would set a positive tone for a franchise headed in a new direction.

“It’s a place that will encourage everybody to get better together, probably get to know each other a bit more, especially with a new team this year,” said center Myles Turner. “It’s top notch. I haven’t seen any one better. Phoenix had a pretty good one. Sacramento just got a new one, but ours has everything.

“It just shows that the Pacers are fully invested in their player development. They’ll do anything for us. Anything we want, anything we ask for, they’ll make sure it happens for us, as long as it goes toward building for the future.”

It might be stretching things to say the new facility will help the Pacers attract free agents. But showing prospective players a practice palace will certainly not turn them away.

“Indiana is not a small market; it’s not a big market,” said team president Kevin Pritchard. “What it really is is a good market, and this (facility) matches the market. You’ve got the (Bankers Life) Fieldhouse which has aged perfectly, and is an elite place to play games. Now you have a training facility that matches the fieldhouse. Us and our relationship with St. V is going to be phenomenal.

“It feels like a little bit of an arms race, in terms of facilities and sports performance. Indiana is basketball; basketball is Indiana. You look at how competitive the league is, the way the salaries are going, the way the salary cap is. We want to make sure our advantage was taking care of players and sports performance.

“We want players walking in here thinking about a couple of things: One, how can they be their best? And then our coaches, how can they get the best out of our players? That was the thought behind designing this building.”

Turner has been working out in the new facility for more than a week, and loves the size of the new weight room.

“It’s not so much the equipment, it’s the space,” Turner said. “Last year when we had a full team in there trying to work out, we were bumping heads.”

McMillan said having two full courts, instead of one, will make it easier for coaches to work with players individually. Both courts in the new practice facility are named after franchise icons. Bob “Slick” Leonard, a former coach and general manager, has his name engraved on one court, while former general manager and president Donnie Walsh has his name engraved on the other. The Pacers front office and coaches also will have their offices in the new facility.

St. Vincent will provide care and treatment in the new facility not only for players, but for the public. The new facility will begin treating patients next week.

Many believe the Pacers are facing a rebuilding season, but McMillan thinks the practice facility will help a young team with many new faces.

“The timing is perfect for what we’ve gone through this offseason, all the change,” McMillan said. “Everything that they need to prepare themselves, and to perform during the season, is here. Once you come in here, you don’t want to go.”

Follow IndyStar reporter Clifton Brown on Twitter: @CliftonGBrown.