Nastacia Voisin |
Nearly seven years after receiving the first donation towards building a new recreation center, UP is three months away from breaking ground for the Beauchamp Recreation and Wellness Center.
The Center, which will open in fall 2015, will be roughly triple the size of Howard Hall and cost $23 million to build. The building is the last major RISE Campaign project and will feature three gymnasiums, several fitness rooms, a rock climbing wall and new equipment. Last December the Board of Regents chose to name the center after Fr. Bill Beauchamp to honor the work he’s accomplished during his presidency.
It’s a project Jim Ravelli, vice president for University Operations, said “is long overdue.”
Part of the reason it’s taken so long is the cost of the building, according to Laurie Kelley, interim vice president for University Relations. According to Kelley, they're $3 million away from their goal, and they're confident they will reach it.
“It’s a lot of money to raise for one building, and there have been so many competing projects,” she said.
The new Recreation Center was modeled after other campuses’ successful fitness centers, and will continue the University’s theme of brick and glass. Kelley and Ravelli hope that the new modern, open and well-lit Recreation Center will be a social space as well as an athletic one.
“It’s going to be a place where people can convene,” Kelley said. “It’s going to be another meeting space where people can create new communities.”
More than just a place to work out
Part of the social aspect will come from having a wellness suite – a health education and advising space where students, faculty and staff can attend classes or receive one-on-one fitness counseling.
“We wanted pieces of it to be not just weights and exercise space and a basketball court,” Ravelli said. “We knew it was important for people to get information for programs and education.”
Two of the most important design criteria of the building were flexibility and space.
Howard Hall was built in 1927, and according to Brian Dezzani, director of Recreational Services, it’s struggling to serve students’ needs.
Joking that upon entering Howard Hall you, “need to hold your arms up and keep the walls up,” Dezzani added seriously that, “we have students that flat out don’t come here because of our recreation center.”
According to Dezzani, the size and condition of Howard Hall drives students to find alternative workout spaces – or even alternative schools. A new recreation center, Dezzani said, will be a huge draw to students who want to establish healthy life choices.
“I think the admission tours will actually come in the rec center instead of just walking past it,” said Dezzani.
Dezzani thinks the quality and size of the building will appeal not just to students, but to faculty and staff as well. He encourages students to give him input in person or by email on what they hope the new recreation center will offer, as there are still choices being made about what will go inside the building.
Public Safety moves to the Haggerty-Tyson parking lot
The almost 14-month project involves razing the current Public Safety building sometime between March and April. The new recreation center will consume the entire space Public Safety is currently occupying, including the 28-space parking lot.
Director of Public Safety Gerald Gregg said Public Safety will be moving across the street to the space in and behind Haggerty 100. New walls will be put up, and the last four parking spaces of the Haggerty garage will be converted to office space.
Gregg said the transition timeline is aggressive, but that the move won’t put pressure on the running of Public Safety.
“We don’t need anything special,” Gregg said. “Two things are critically important: accessibility and visibility.”
Gregg said that Public Safety’s new location is a high-traffic area and will have better signage, making the office more noticeable.
“I think it will be every bit as accessible,” he said. “The actual space will function better for us.”
Ravelli said the location for the new recreation center was decided after considering factors like the importance of open spaces on campus, proximity to the Chiles Center, city regulations and the size of the new building.
Like many details such as staffing and equipment choices, the creation of more parking space to make up for what is being lost is still being worked out.
No swimming for now
One aspect the new center will be lacking in its first phase of development is a swimming pool.
Jim Ravelli, vice president for University operations, said there are a lot of tradeoffs in planning the Center, and the exclusion of a pool was a budgetary choice.
“We wrestled with the decision on whether to put a pool in it or not,” Ravelli said.
The estimated cost of adding a pool was $3 million, not including operating costs, and the final decision was to create extra gym space instead.
Senior Walker Ross, a member of UP’s water polo team, said he thinks from the university’s perspective, it’s a fair choice. He’s been swimming his whole life, and realizes that building a swimming pool is both a risk and an expense.
“You’re going to dig a hole next to a building, flood it with water, and hope it doesn’t leak,” Ross said. At the same time, he feels UP will fail to attract serious swimmers if they don’t make the investment.
However, a pool is part of the second phase of development. Infrastructure will be put in during the building of the center (called Phase One) to reserve space on the site to build a pool at a later date (Phase Two).
Ravelli and Kelley are optimistic about the success of the building.
“We’re standing behind what we say,” Kelley said. “We’re not just saying ‘heart, hand and mind’ when we talking about education at the University of Portland. We really want being fit to be part of the experience here.”
Features and Amenities
-A rock climbing wall -Multiple purpose rooms (for yoga, Zumba, aerobics) -Indoor and outdoor functional training space -Three gymnasiums -An Outdoor Pursuit center -Locker rooms -A spin studio -An indoor running track -Cardio rooms -A wellness suite (for fitness advising and education) -Administrative offices -Strength and weight training space -Classrooms
