Auburn’s dream of a football-specific facility took a step closer to becoming reality on Friday.

The university’s Board of Trustees unanimously voted to approve the initiation of a “Football Performance Center” project on campus during its meeting Friday morning at the AU Hotel. The approval came following a presentation by associate vice president for facilities Dan King, with athletics director Allen Greene also in attendance, a little more than three months after the Board of Trustees asked then-Auburn president Steven Leath on June 7 to form a committee to explore the construction of such a facility. The Board of Trustees also granted final approval for $9.2 million in renovations to the east-side suites at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

“We’ve been talking about this project for quite a big period of time, and it’s nice to be able to engage the Auburn family and get the support of the board of trustees,” Greene said. “I think they understand how important this project is to the future of our football program, and we’re happy to do it together.”

Specifics for the project, including estimated cost, location and design, were not presented during the Property and Facilities Committee presentation. While a location has not yet been decided upon, the most logical site is the old track located on Biggio Drive.

The project is expected to be paid for using athletics department funding -- through university general revenue bonds -- and donations from boosters, as well as a $2 million donation pledged last year by head coach Gus Malzahn and his wife Kristi.

“One of the things that I’ve been incredibly impressed with is the response from the Auburn family,” Greene said of the fundraising process. "Over the past 13 or so months, we’ve targeted a number of different individuals and families and companies, and the response has been astounding — nothing I’ve ever seen before in our landscape, so that tells me that people understand the importance, and not only that, but they’re willing to support us financially.”

A preliminary timeline was not presented during the Board meeting, as it is still in the very early stages, but Greene said Friday that “timelines are pretty consistent across the board” from what he has seen from other programs to build such facilities in recent years. According to Greene, the design process typically takes one year, while the construction takes about two years.

“This is a very large-scale project, which means that we have to take our time, but we also know that time is of the essence,” Greene said.

The next step in the process will be selection of an architect to design the new football-only facility. Once an architect is selected, it must be approved by the Board before moving on to the final stage of project approval. The next meeting of the Board of Trustees is scheduled for Nov. 22, followed by one on Feb. 7, 2020.

Greene does not have a timeline for when he would like to have renderings to present to the Board or athletics boosters, but added that once an architect is selected, the process of rendering designs for the facility will begin.

A football-specific complex has long been on the wishlist for Auburn’s athletics department. Upon pledging his $2 million donation last year, Malzahn said that he felt a standalone football building was “really the only thing” his football program needed at that point.

“We are very appreciative of the Board of Trustees’ approval of a football performance center,” Malzahn said in a statement. “This facility will be a tremendous asset for Auburn and the Auburn football program for many years to come.”

Greene, who was hired Jan. 19, 2018, said last summer that he wants his program to be a “differentiator” in college athletics and that a standalone football facility will help Auburn set itself apart from its peers. Auburn’s current athletics complex, located at the northwest corner of Samford and Donahue, was built in 1989. The facility houses more than just the program’s football team, as it is also home to the athletic department’s business office, communications staff, compliance, development, digital media, equipment management, graphic design, IT, marketing and operations, as well as upper-level department administration.

That’s a contrast to many of the nation’s top programs, which have devoted money to their own football-only complexes in recent years. Clemson is perhaps the most notable of those, having dedicated $55 million toward a state-of-the-art football complex that was completed and opened in 2017.

While an estimated cost has not yet been presented for Auburn’s facility, a look at other recent projects across the country and particularly in the SEC may provide an idea of what the Tigers’ standalone complex could cost. Georgia’s athletics association board of directors last week approved an $80 million, 165,000 square-foot football operations building, which will be added on to the Bulldogs’ current athletics complex, Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall, while Florida last year revealed plans to build a $65 million, 130,000 square-foot standalone football building that was expected to be completed by the end of 2021.

“Construction, particularly, as y’all heard today, all the work that’s going on not only at the university but in the city of Auburn, and the construction costs just around the country are more expensive and are rising,” Greene said. “So that’s something that we’ll take into consideration as we look to engage an architect.”

Auburn believes that a standalone football facility is needed to “successfully compete within the Southeastern Conference and national peer programs” and that such a building will “enhance student-athlete development.” The new facility will include dedicated space for strength and conditioning, healthy and recovery, and sports science, as well as team meeting rooms, coach and staff offices, equipment storage space and common areas.

Greene thinks the timing of Auburn’s project, coming in the wake of the recent proliferation of such buildings across the college landscape, is advantageous, as the university can “take the things that work well” at other schools and “think about applying them” toward the Tigers’ facility. Ultimately, though, Greene said Auburn will do “whatever we feel is in the best interest of our student-athletes.”

“We have thought about what would be in it," Greene said. "So four walls are four walls, but I think paying particular attention about the details of what’s inside and the functionality will set our facility apart from others.... We don’t have any firm designs, but we’ve got some concepts in terms of technology that may be able to rival some others.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.