Though the expansion of the Athletics Department is still in its fundraising and design stages, construction of the project's new athletic building could begin as early as the end of the spring, according to project organizers.
The expansion plans, launched last March, include a three-story building that will be located between the Gantcher Center and Cousens Gym, and will extend toward College Avenue in front of Hamilton Pool. The building's centerpiece will be a new fitness facility to supplement the existing Chase Gym, and it will feature additional locker rooms and Athletics Department offices.
At its November meeting, the Board of Trustees approved continuing the project design and completing construction documents, Vice President for Operations Dick Reynolds said.
Meanwhile, the University Advancement Division has continued fundraising for the project.
The project has raised $18 million thus far, $5 million of which has already been used for Cousens Gym renovations, according to Director of Advancement Communications and Donor Relations Christine Sanni. The university needs $3 million more to achieve the $16 million required to begin construction, she said.
Sanni anticipates that the final $3 million will be raised by June, as the Board of Trustees made a goal to finish fundraising before University President Lawrence Bacow's term ends.
Bacow throughout his tenure has promoted athletics, from varsity to recreational programs, according to Athletics Director Bill Gehling.
"Bacow's support of athletics has been really important to us," Gehling said.
The university hopes to break ground on the new building while Bacow is still here, Gehling said. Tufts aims to begin building in the spring, but that time frame is contingent on completing fundraising and receiving construction approvals from the City of Medford, according to Reynolds.
"If we begin this spring, we would hope to have the building open for the start of the school year in 2012," Reynolds, who has been involved in coordinating the construction logistics of the expansion, said.
Gehling said that the main attraction of the expansion is the installation of a new fitness facility, which will cover the second floor of the planned building.
"This will more than double the size of the fitness center and include all new machines," Gehling said. "We're also getting a couple of multipurpose spaces for some of the classes, like yoga, we offer."
The exercise center, designed for the general student body, will overlook College Avenue through a full glass wall, according to Reynolds. The building's entrance will serve as the main entryway to all of Tufts' athletic facilities, forming a link between Cousens and Gantcher, he said.
The building's first floor will consist mainly of extra athletic lockers and sports medical space, and the third floor will house the Athletics Department offices, currently housed in Halligan Hall, according to Gehling and Reynolds. The engineering and computer science departments will fill the space freed up in Halligan, Gehling said.
The idea for an updated workout facility has been in the works for several years, throughout which planners have solicited student input via open forums and interviews with individual students, Gehling said.
"We've been working on the concept for expanding fitness for four to five years," Gehling said. "We were getting regular feedback that our fitness center is inadequate to meet the needs of the general student body. This is badly needed."
Ultimately, renovations to the athletics facilities will occur in three phases.
Phase one of the project has already been completed, according to Sanni, thanks to the $5 million that went toward last year's renovation of Cousens Gym, which rotated the basketball court's configuration by 90 degrees.
The Cousens renovation moved forward in 2008 despite the economic downturn, because that work was a less expensive part of the overall renovation plans and the fundraising had already been completed by then, Gehling said.
Phase two originally included the new building and renovations to the existing gym, according to Gehling. Early last semester, however, the university decided to divide the second phase of construction into sub-phases to make the plans more economically feasible, he said.
"The initial project was going to be quite a bit larger," Reynolds said. "Then financial difficulties hit, so we scaled it back and redesigned it with a smaller scope."
The first subphase will focus on building the three-story building, while the second subphase will renovate the existing space where the Chase Gym, Hamilton Pool and recreational sports courts are located, Gehling said.
"We revisited our priorities and got the most important ones done in this first part of the phase," Gehling said. "The existing space will be 100 percent usable during this construction."
While yet to be fully planned, phase three will include a new fundraising venture, according to Gehling. He said that this phase will complete the department's long-term plans to ensure that all facilities are sufficient, concentrating in particular on renovating the pool and squash courts.
"Right now, we don't have adequate squash courts. They are too narrow," Gehling said. "The pool is too small for the varsity teams, but also for community use."
The Facilities and Construction Department will head the building's construction, led by Director of Construction and Standards Mitch Bodnarchuk and Project Manager Michael Skeldon, Reynolds said. Tufts hired design and construction company Stanmar to work on the facility's design alongside architectural firm DiMella Shaffer, according to Reynolds.
