Written by Camila Fernandez/News Director
Juliana Santos said there’s a line of students who wait to use equipment at the Wellness and Recreation Center.
“Just coming here at certain hours of the day, you have to kind of schedule it out right so that it’s not too full,” said Santos, an FIU alumna.
With a new $19 million expansion plan for the center, the University hopes to better accommodate a growing number of students at the gym. The center would upsize to 60,000+ square feet, more than double the size of its existing building.
“[There’s] lots of things for people to do that they’re not able to do now [because] it’s very crowded,” said Robert Frye, WRC director.
New additions include a third floor with a 1/10 mile indoor track, a new south entrance to the center, two outdoor basketball courts, a sand volleyball court and more lounge space. There will also be an additional 3-court basketball/volleyball gymnasium and a small-group functional training fitness room.
There will be an expansion of both men’s and women’s locker rooms with two gender-neutral changing and shower rooms. The center will expand across parking lot 8 behind it, but some parking spaces will be left for the nearby Student Health Services.
Breaking ground begins at the end of this year and is expected to open Spring 2017.
“The entire center will remain open during renovations but there may be certain areas that are temporarily affected as they make the connection between the buildings,” said Frye. “This building was always planned to expand. This was always going to be Phase One.”
The University first worked with RDG Planning & Design, part of the original design team in 2009, to prepare a Phase Two. HKS Architects, Inc., the firm who designed Parkview Housing, Panther Hall, Lakeview Hall and other University housing, was then selected to design the new expansion. Moss & Associates was selected to do the construction of the expansion. The general contractor is led by the Moss brothers, with one of them being an FIU alumnus.
They led the construction of the University’s Parkview Hall, the University of Miami Schwartz Center athletics facility and the UHealth and Fitness & Training Centers at Marlins Park. According to Frye, part of its funding will come from the student Activity & Service fee and Housing.
Frye said the biggest growth is going to be expanding the free weight area on the first floor.
FIU alumnus Carlos Hernandez said that he and his friends always avoid using the free weights between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. when it’s the most crowded.
“Bigger would be better,” said Hernandez. “Usually at 7 p.m. you get a big crowd here so anything that expands would be great so we don’t get too much cluster.”
Durant Harvin IV said students take to social media to show their complaints on the lack of space. “You walk in, people are lifting. It’s kind of like a maze trying to get stuff,” said Harvin, WRC marketing and public relations graduate assistant.
Harvin is in charge of the center’s social media accounts. He said students mostly protest through Twitter and Instagram.
“Most people enjoy working out here but it’s just not as comfortable as it could be,” Harvin said.
Frye said for Spinning, staff have to move bikes in and out all day. With the addition of a room exclusive to Spinning, the center will be able to provide more Spinning classes.
There will also be a racquetball/squash convertible court.
“There are currently two racquetball courts at the University arena, but Athletics has had their designs on those spaces for offices,” Frye said. “Squash is becoming much more popular, especially with our international students and faculty members.”
There will also be a Fitness Assessment Office for personal trainers and a matted room for martial arts, yoga and other fitness activities. “Our clubs are going to be able to have a bigger opportunity to practice,” said Michael Prociuk, WRC Intramural and Club Sports assistant director.
“The extra space will offer more times for the clubs to come in and practice and use the facilities,” Prociuk said. “We’ll be able to close off different parts for different clubs so that they can have more opportunity,” he said. “A lot of our club leaders run their clubs from start to finish and to see them grow their program and let them grow individually as leaders is great to see.”
camila.fernandez@fiusm.com
The Wellness & Recreation Center expansion will actually increase the size of the existing facility by 61,000+ square feet. The new total of the entire WRC will be more than 111,000 SF.