The DePauw board of trustees approved the university's athletic and recreation master plan that includes significant renovations to the existing Lilly Physical Fitness Center and athletic precinct on Friday morning.
Days later, DePauw received its first major donation toward Lilly to the tune of $5 million from Scott '82 and Kimberlee Welch for an upgraded community fitness center.
The gift will fund the M. Scott and Kimberlee A. Welch Fitness Center, a 16,000 square foot addition to the East side - along College Street - of the current Lilly Center.
The expansion is a part of the first phase of an athletic master plan outlined to the board last week by Athletic Director Stevie Baker-Watson. In total, the renovations to the center will add an additional 36,000 square feet in locker rooms, office spaces and classrooms.
Hastings & Chivetta Architects, an architectural firm out of St. Louis, Mo., was contracted in March to begin drawing plans for Lilly and the athletic precinct. The department was ready to present its needs having after speaking with all coaches last fall.
The process was smooth and quick, according to Baker-Watson, and the plan not only included a new fitness center, but a complete three-phase plan for the improvement of Lilly.
"We heard loud and clear we needed to fix the fitness center in this building," Baker-Watson said Monday afternoon. "We say three phases as opposed to saying it's going to take 30 years. We don't know how long it will take. It's funding dependent."
Several board members recognized the over-crowded facility as a common concern. Welch, a current board member, said the renovations to the space will allow for a more engaging environment between athletes and non-athletes as well address what he said was an area much in need of improvement for DePauw.
"When I look at DePauw as opposed to our Midwest competitors, we are behind the times with regard to some of our facilities," said Welch, a dual football and golf athlete at DePauw.
His donation is the lead gift that will fund the new fitness center part of phase one. The current fitness center is about 6,000 square feet - this addition will almost triple that.
"This is not the only gift," Baker-Watson said. "This is a significant portion of it, not all of it. This lead gift is hopefully one of a number we will bring forth."
The entire cost of the phase one plan is not yet known, said Baker-Watson. DePauw is in a process of determining a contractor to give estimates on how much all of phase one will cost. There is a meeting Tuesday afternoon about a potential contractor.
The $5 million donation is the first donation in what Baker-Watson hopes to be the first of many in a capital campaign for all of phase one. She said there is a hope that all money can be raised in 12 months, and the 15 to 18 month construction period can begin.
There is a possibility the current freshman class can use phase one's improvements by its senior year.
"There is an asterisk that says funding contingent," she said. "We can move on it as quickly as we can, which is why we're pushing Hastings & Chivetta this whole time."