Jordan Brand has arrived in Los Angeles, by way of an old airport hangar formerly owned by aviation tycoon Howard Hughes.
The space is enormous and goes by the name "Jordan Hangar." The 76,500 square foot space is the exact location where Hughes built the world-famous "Spruce Goose (Hughes H-4 Hercules Plane)," which was seen in the Hughes biopic, "The Aviator."
Jordan Hangar was designed to be the offseason training home of Los Angeles-based Jordan Brand athletes -- Los Angeles Clippers stars Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Jabari Parker of the Milwaukee Bucks, Victor Oladipo of the Orlando Magic, Kawhi Leonard of the San Antonio Spurs and Maya Moore of the Minnesota Lynx among others.
"We're thrilled to be able to open the space here in the LA area," President of Jordan Brand Larry Miller said at the Hangar's first look event held Thursday night. "We have the one in New York and it has worked out pretty well. It's kind of like a home for not only our athletes, but consumers and people who are connected to the Jordan Brand, it's kind of like their home in New York. We're looking for this to be the same thing here."
The main attraction at the Hangar is the full-sized basketball court that sits at the east end of the football-field sized building. Atop the court sits a three-paneled Jumbotron that hangs from the rafters. Each panel is measured at 100 square feet.
There are two NBA-inspired locker rooms for Jordan Brand athletes to kick back and relax before or after running on the hardwood, fully equipped full-sized lockers and an X-Box 360 that's hooked up to an enormous HD television. CP3 and Blake have their own lockers that no one else is permitted to use.
The new, sleek Jordan Hangar basketball court in Los Angeles.
Not only will the Jordan Hangar be used for the brand's professional athletes, the space will house local high school games, product testings and product releases. Four Los Angeles-based schools will be using the space -- Chino Hills, Loyola, Redondo Union and JW North.
One of the most innovative features of the Jordan Hangar is something called "The Cube," a four-paneled video screen that's used for various skills challenges that feature the moves of CP3.
Thursday's event's debuting the Jordan Hanger, itself, also was used to debut the new CP3 signature model, the CP3.VIII. A retail space for consumers is in the facility's near future. So it will be open to the public, just not yet.
Possibly the best part of the space is the tributes to His Airness, Michael Jordan, the man who started it all.
The NBA evolution of Michael Jordan, as told through his uniforms.
