Construction postpones athletic centre opening

Posted on 03. Feb, 2010 by juanantonio in News

MELISSA GREER
NEWS REPORTER

With construction delays postponing the January opening of the North Campus fitness centre, athletic director Doug Fox said he is disappointed with the progress.
“We weren’t even open for the first three days of school and I said to someone here “everyone’s coming back with new year’s resolutions and they’ve got nowhere to go,” said Fox.
The new section of the athletic centre holds two fitness studios and a cardio room and was expected to be completed Jan. 4, he said.
“There are so many glitches right now which is very frustrating,” Fox said.
The fitness centre opened a weight room and an incomplete cardio centre on Jan. 14.
“It’s still a work in progress – the access now is limited to the existing equipment we have,” said Jim Bialek, assistant athletic director.
While a new cardio room is open, construction is not complete on either of the fitness studios.
Delays are due to complications with the structure along one of the studio walls and flooring that is not ready to be laid, said Bialek.
“It’s a bit of a problem for kinesiology and other programs as well because they’re supposed to have those studios active for their courses,” said Fox.
The mechanical lift needed to move all the heavy equipment to the second floor wasn’t installed properly the first time, resulting in another setback, said Fox.
“The reality is we’ve had to hold back most of the new equipment until we get the mechanical arm,” said Fox.
The new facility has a lot more space for students, but not a lot of equipment yet, said Lindsey Bradbury,  22,  athletic centre employee and first year massage therapy student.
“Everyone likes it and it’s nice but they just want it to be finished,” said Bradbury.
“Ultimately, students have to be a little patient – we’re trying our best to allow them to continue with some facility usage and get finished as quickly as possible,” said Fox.