The latest floor plans for the upcoming renovations at Campus Recreation were unveiled at a Jan. 27 brown bag seminar at the Intramural Physical Education building (IMPE). Construction is scheduled to begin at Campus Recreation Center East (CRCE) late this spring, and when completed the facility will have a one-eighth-mile track, three racquetball courts, locker rooms, a leisure pool and a multi-activity court (MAC) usable for a variety of indoor sports. When the CRCE renovations are completed in summer 2004, the majority of work will begin at IMPE. The redesigned IMPE will expand by 120,000 square feet to include a one-sixth-mile track, a 42-foot climbing wall and a 166-seat auditorium. Amenities such as a juice bar, multipurpose rooms and lounge areas with computers are intended to make the facilities amenable to a broader spectrum of patrons, not just people interested in sports and fitness. “For every person that you see here at IMPE, there are probably two people who would like to come that don’t,” said Tony Clements, director of Campus Recreation. “These new facilities are really built for a capacity that’s well beyond what we’re doing now, which is 3,000 to 3,500 people at peak time. These will allow us to handle 11,000 to 13,000 people a day.” The redesigned facilities also will incorporate lots of windows to capitalize on natural lighting and to enable passersby to view interior activities. Open floor plans also will maximize patron self- sufficiency so users can find activities without staff assistance. To minimize disruption in services while CRCE is being renovated, its fitness equipment will be relocated to Gym 4 of IMPE and IMPE’s hours will be extended. Floor plans, a time line and other information is available on the Campus Rec Web site at www.campusrec.uiuc.edu/renovation/index.html.
Campus Rec unveils facility renovations
By Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor (217) 244-1072; slforres@illinois.edu
