The University's Board of Visitors approved a new 42,000-square-foot addition to the Aquatic and Fitness Center at its fall quarterly meeting, that will provide fitness enthusiasts with a host of new options. The plan calls for the construction of three basketball courts, a climbing wall, an elevated track, a multi-purpose room and space for free weights and cardiovascular exercise.
Mark Fletcher, associate athletic director and director of Intramural-Recreational Sports, said construction of the addition is expected to begin next summer and ideally will be completed by the fall of 2003.
Fletcher said he hopes the most disruptive elements of the construction, such as tearing down walls of the current AFC, will take place this summer when fewer students are using the facility.
"I'm hoping as much as possible that we don't have a reduction in use at the AFC on a day-to-day basis," Fletcher said.
The addition to the AFC will be added on the Alderman Road side of the AFC. The parking lot closest to the AFC will be removed to make room for the new facilities.
Fletcher said the University is considering what steps can be taken to ensure the new addition to the AFC does not cause a shortage in parking.
Fletcher noted the construction is only eliminating parking that was created on a temporary basis while a now-completed Scott Stadium parking garage was being built.
The Intramural-Recreational Sports Department will pay an estimated $8 million for the additions said Colette Sheehy, vice president of the University's management and budget department.
"This was always part of the original design, but there wasn't enough money for it in the first phase of the project," Sheehy said.
Fletcher said the large number of students who use the University's gyms justifies the new investment in the AFC.
"We find that we are consistently short of space, considering how many intramural teams we have," Fletcher said.
Fletcher noted that no money for the new AFC addition will come from the state, making the construction unaffected by Virginia's budget freeze.
The planned track at the AFC will be the University's second indoor track, and the climbing wall will be a University first. Fletcher noted the new track will be made of a rubberized surface, making it considerably more modern than the Memorial Gym's track, which was built in 1924.
In an unrelated project, the University's Utilities Management Office is investing $2.5 million for the excavation of the Aquatic and Fitness Center's basement. The Utilities project is designed to provide air conditioning to the remodeled Observatory Hill dining hall, and a new engineering building.
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