2008 Woodie Awards
Vote Absentee
With new plans, $50m Nelson Fitness Center to be completed in 2010
Isabel Gottlieb
Issue date: 10/16/07 Section: Campus News
In the 30 years Athletic Director Michael Goldberger has worked at Brown, "we've never had adequate fitness facilities," he said. But University officials hope that will change with the construction of the $50-million, 80,000-square foot Nelson Fitness Center, now scheduled for completion in 2010.
The building, which will be located in what is currently the main parking lot of the Erickson Athletic Complex, will include a three-court gymnasium, five fitness and dance studios and 11,900 square feet for free weights and cardiovascular equipment, according to a March 2007 University press release. The building will also house more communal spaces, including a lobby-atrium, a quadrangle and a cafe.
The facilities will be for general recreational use, easing the strain on facilities that are currently shared by varsity athletes and the general community. Both the amount of space for fitness classes - currently housed in one general-purpose room in the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center - and the space dedicated to free weights will increase five-fold, and the space for cardiovascular equipment will be quadrupled, according to the University's development office.
University officials have already raised $27 million toward the building's cost, Ronald Vanden Dorpel MA'71, senior vice president for University advancement, told The Herald last month, adding that the development office hopes to finish fundraising in the next 12 to 18 months. The $50 million fundraising target includes $35 million in construction costs and at least $15 million toward an endowment for the building's maintenance. The fitness center is "right at the top of the agenda because the sooner we get money raised, the sooner we'll begin (construction)," Vanden Dorpel said.
The University currently hopes to start construction by the summer of 2008, according to Associate Provost Pamela O'Neil.
Increasing the fitness space available on campus was always part of the President Ruth Simmons' Plan for Academic Enrichment. The issue was first addressed by the addition of satellite fitness facilities, when new gyms in Emery-Woolley and Keeney Quadrangle joined the Bear's Lair in the Graduate Center as alternatives to the OMAC.
The building, which will be located in what is currently the main parking lot of the Erickson Athletic Complex, will include a three-court gymnasium, five fitness and dance studios and 11,900 square feet for free weights and cardiovascular equipment, according to a March 2007 University press release. The building will also house more communal spaces, including a lobby-atrium, a quadrangle and a cafe.
The facilities will be for general recreational use, easing the strain on facilities that are currently shared by varsity athletes and the general community. Both the amount of space for fitness classes - currently housed in one general-purpose room in the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center - and the space dedicated to free weights will increase five-fold, and the space for cardiovascular equipment will be quadrupled, according to the University's development office.
University officials have already raised $27 million toward the building's cost, Ronald Vanden Dorpel MA'71, senior vice president for University advancement, told The Herald last month, adding that the development office hopes to finish fundraising in the next 12 to 18 months. The $50 million fundraising target includes $35 million in construction costs and at least $15 million toward an endowment for the building's maintenance. The fitness center is "right at the top of the agenda because the sooner we get money raised, the sooner we'll begin (construction)," Vanden Dorpel said.
The University currently hopes to start construction by the summer of 2008, according to Associate Provost Pamela O'Neil.
Increasing the fitness space available on campus was always part of the President Ruth Simmons' Plan for Academic Enrichment. The issue was first addressed by the addition of satellite fitness facilities, when new gyms in Emery-Woolley and Keeney Quadrangle joined the Bear's Lair in the Graduate Center as alternatives to the OMAC.