As the fall sports season comes to a close, the gym has filled up with more students looking to satisfy their exercise fix, and many are becoming frustrated with the inconvenience that the construction is causing them.
While the construction of Lilly Physical Education and Recreation Center is right on schedule, the bulk of the work will not be completed until August 2014.
The construction, once finished, will include a 36,000 square-foot expansion, including a two-level, 16,000 square-foot fitness center, according to design project manager David Doell. Doell adds that the current fitness center, along with additional rooms that will be added on during the construction, will be used as rooms for fitness classes such as spin, yoga and Pilates, as well as new kinesiology classrooms and offices.
The fitness center, he said, is going to be the biggest and most exciting change to the building.
"It just about triples the size of the fitness center. [...] We're separating the cardio-type equipment from the weight-lifting equipment," Doell said. "I think there are a lot of people who don't really want to go [to Lilly] because it's just so crowded, so this will give us a lot more room. It will give us new machines, new equipment, and it will be a lot more of a pleasant experience."
Director of Athletics Stevie Baker-Watson said that, while the ongoing construction may create some frustration, the renovations were necessary.
"We take great care of our stuff, but after 30 years it's hard to maintain the equipment based upon our use," Baker-Watson said. "We've done our best to try to give people as much notice as to when things are going to be closed or altered."
First-year Akil Davis is one of many who have become frustrated by the constricted space in the Lilly Center due to the construction.
"At certain times of the day you may want to go to the gym, but it may be majorly packed, and the machine that you might want to use is not open," Davis said. "I hope there will be new machines available [in the new fitness center] so that more people can go there and work out and it wont seem as congested with the amount of people there."
Baker-Watson understands students' frustration, but hopes that they can realize that, in the end, this project will be well worth the wait.
"It's hard when you're tying to live and work in an active construction zone," she said. "But our staff has accepted that because we realize what is going to happen on the other end... it is going to make a huge improvement for the student experience on our campus."
Baker-Watson adds that the addition of a 10,000 square-foot lobby will make the Lilly Center a more welcoming place where students can hang out and have fun.
"[The Lilly Center] is very active with students, but they come and they go. Having a new lobby in this building will allow students to come and sit and hang out and that I think will bring a new energy to our building," she said.
Those involved in the construction of the Lilly Fitness Center are excited to see the outcome, and they hope that students are just as excited as they are. In the meantime, they appreciate the student body tolerating the trouble that the construction inevitably brings with it, and hope that they will continue to stay patient.
"We just really appreciate everybody's patience, because we really are transforming the campus," Doell said. "It's a slow process, it doesn't happen overnight, but I really think everybody's going to enjoy the improvements a lot."