While the weight room is the heart of the building, one of Streicher's favorite features is right beside it.
"The feature to me that I think is really important is definitely the hydro area for the players," Streicher said.
"The hot tub, cold tub, and underwater treadmill, and then the huge custom rehab pool – it's used a lot by the players, and they seem to really love it. That space is more than double the size of what it was, and with windows that look out onto the practice field. That space feels like a spa to me."
The space planning came together like a puzzle, but the end result is a fully integrated performance center for football operations, training, strength, conditioning, recovery, and communication.
It's evident from the lobby.
An enlarged staircase serves as a central circulation for the entire building. It was designed wide with the hope and expectation of organic conversation between anyone going up or down it. Near the player engagement area at the top landing is a little sitting area to host casual conversation.
The ease of the building's flow is further enhanced by corridors that were built big enough to still feel large to an NFL player.
Jonathan Kraft made sure of this, as noted by Streicher, who says the Kraft Group owner and president often walked through the structure with a critical eye, hoping to find potential pain points that could be fixed before the project was completed.
"In the building sheetrock and finishing stages of rooms and hallways, Jonathan, after walking the building, pointed out that the hallway leading from the position meeting rooms to the team meeting room was too narrow and would cause traffic build up," Streicher said.
"The next day, walls were moved and that area was redesigned. He was correct – that space is very open now and flows perfectly."
Every detail was intentional, and in many cases, agonized over.
"This building is the ecosystem for Patriots Football," said Schlenk.
"It's everything that a player, coach, or staff member might need day-to-day to perform at their best. It's a dining room. It's a restaurant. It's an office building. It's a conference center. It's a gym. It's a pool. It's a really complex, living building."
It was also built with room to grow into.
There are more workspace accommodations than currently necessary, and flex spaces throughout the building, unused at the moment, but bound to find a purpose as the Patriots organization, NFL, and technology continue to evolve.
The New Balance Athletics Center needs to work for the team now, but also in 50 years.
"A goal was to create a building that has flexible space moving forward," said Titus.
"We can build something for right now, but we don't know what things will look like in five years. We don't know what the landscape for training or performance or game preparation is going to look like. Creating a space that had flexibility was really important to us. That it had an opportunity for future growth and the ability to give the team more later on down the road and flex as the program changes."
From his career in New England as a player, and now a coach, Vrabel has seen the impact of that change over the years. That's why the new space was intended to be unrecognizable to what the Patriots had before.
"I wouldn't even compare it," Vrabel said. "There's nothing to compare. That would be like comparing the old stadium to (Gillette). That's how things evolve and organizations continue to grow."
Certainly, everything is much bigger at the New Balance Athletics Center. It's also much brighter – the first thing most everyone has noticed.
The most glaring difference from the Patriots former space is the sunlight that beams into almost every space in the new building. Architects designed it to maximize the sun and align with daily ritual.
"What I'm hoping players and staff notice first is the amount of natural light here," Schlenk said.
"The existing football operation spaces in the stadium were kind of in the bowels, right? There were not a lot of windows, not a lot of natural light or ventilation and stepping into this new space, all of that has improved. Almost every office has a window. If you're looking at the dining room facing east, that's getting great natural light in the morning for breakfast. Likewise on the west side of the building. The weight room, cardio mezzanine, hydrotherapy pools – those are getting natural light in the afternoon. It's just a completely different environment to what folks are used to here."
That attention to detail and level of collaboration to execute has always set the Patriots apart on the field. Construction, as it turns out, is a lot like football.
With completion of the New Balance Athletics Center, an important aspect of the organization is back above the standard.
"The level of energy and passion Jonathan and Robert put in each and every day to ensure every T was crossed to make sure the players knew that they cared about them, they cared about their families, and they cared about success and future of the Patriots organization," said Fish.
When players saw the new building for the first time upon reporting back for offseason training, Streicher says he saw an uptick in the number of guys who stuck around to work out. Their reactions have been the most rewarding part of the process for those who worked closely on this project.
It's another point for the Patriots when it comes to recruiting top talent and retaining the talent they have.
According to Nolan, value of the asset is well worth the investment.
"The value is that we built a new building, we are now state-of-the-art, we're giving the players and coaches the things they need to be successful," Nolan said.
"That's ultimately the value because the value is winning. Everybody wants to win. We want to win, and if we're doing something that can further that objective, that's the ultimate success."