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24 March 2005 Longwood breaking new ground for recreation
Longwood University will break ground on Friday, April 15, on a new student recreation center. A groundbreaking ceremony, which will feature entertainment, will be held at 4:30 p.m. in the parking lot next to Frazer residence hall. The two-and-a-half story, 75,000-square foot facility will be built at the corner of South Main and Franklin streets, facing Franklin Street and the south end of Frazer. The site is now occupied by a parking lot for commuter students. The building will be occupied by the offices of Campus Recreation, the Counseling Center, and the Student Health & Wellness Center, now in three separate buildings. The architect is Moseley Architects of Virginia Beach, with Hastings & Chivetta of St. Louis serving as recreation consultants. "This facility will transform our campus," said Dr. Tim Pierson, vice president for student affairs. "It's something that students here have wanted and needed for a long time. Campus Recreation currently shares facilities with the Department of Health, Recreation & Kinesiology, which is growing, and with the athletic department, which is moving to Division-I status. With the tremendous demands on our current facilities, it is critical to have a facility that is available for general student use for extended hours every day." The facility will be built of brick and glass, with the corner at Main and Franklin featuring a curved section of glass. Some of the ceiling (over the fitness area, the hallway at the first floor entrance and a hallway that runs the length of the building) also will be glass, letting in natural light. The first floor will contain two basketball courts, a multi-activity court (slightly larger than a basketball court and suitable for indoor soccer and field hockey), a fitness area with about 120 pieces of equipment, three multipurpose rooms for aerobics, a 30-foot climbing wall, two racquetball courts, a juice bar, a lobby and locker rooms. The entrance to the first floor, which will be fronted by four white columns, will be where Franklin meets Spruce Street. The mezzanine level between the main floors will contain a four-lane indoor running track about 1/16 th of a mile long (above the fitness area and the two basketball courts) and a suspended lounge area inside the track. From the lounge area, guests will be able to look down into the basketball courts, the fitness area and the lobby. The second floor will contain offices. The entrance to the second floor will be on the side of the building opposite the Franklin Street side. A stairway and an elevator will connect the two floors. The front of the building will extend into Franklin Street, which will be closed to traffic from Main to Pine streets. Thanks to a joint effort by the Town of Farmville and Longwood, a new street, Wynne Drive, has been built between the Longwood Small Business Development Center (on Main and Hooper streets) and Wynne Hall. The recreation center is but the latest in a string of recent construction projects at Longwood. Ruffner Hall, the university's signature building that burned down in 2001, will be rededicated April 23. The new science building, between Jarman Auditorium and Wheeler residence hall, is nearing completion. Brock Commons, a pedestrian mall in the center of campus, opened in April 2004. |
