McDonough Gymnasium's aging practice and training facilities had long been considered overcrowded and obsolete when, on September 12, 2014, Georgetown held a groundbreaking ceremony for the four-story, 144,000-square-foot (13,378-square-meter) John R. Thompson Jr. Intercollegiate Athletics Center, whose northwest corner is adjacent to the southeast corner of McDonough.
Officially opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on October 6, 2016 — the first new intercollegiate athletic facility constructed at Georgetown since McDonough — the Thompson Center serves all 29 of the university's varsity sports programs – providing them with locker rooms, practice courts, and other training facilities – and houses the offices of the men's and women's basketball programs.