Construction to begin on Student Wellness Center
PRESS RELEASE – Abilene Christian University is preparing to break ground on a state-of-the-art 113,000-square-foot $21 million Student Recreation and Wellness Center. The facility will be named in honor of retiring ACU President Dr. Royce Money and his wife, Pam.
Construction is scheduled to begin early next month, with an anticipated grand opening set for Fall 2011.
“This project is the culmination of two-and-a-half years of planning by ACU students, faculty, and staff,” says Dr. Jean-Noel Thompson, Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students.
“Having this facility on our campus will help us achieve one of our major goals: to educate students with a holistic wellness focus. This won’t just be a facility where they go to work out. We are focused on their intellectual and spiritual development, as well as their physical fitness,” says Thompson.
The Royce and Pam Money Recreation and Wellness Center represents a substantial expansion and renovation of the 41-year-old Gibson Health and Physical Education Center, currently located adjacent to Moody Coliseum.
The updated facility will house multiple venues for student learning, exercise and athletic competition including: a sizable cardio fitness and weight training area; multi-purpose gyms; an eighth-mile indoor elevated recreational track; racquetball courts; and a new leisure pool with swim lanes and opportunities for water sports.
Offices and classrooms for the Department of Exercise Science and Health, including a large lecture hall, will be located on the second floor. The new building also will house the ACU Medical Clinic, Counseling Center, and Intramural Sports Office, a reconfiguration that will bring the university’s health and wellness-related services to a central location.
“While the center will primarily serve our students, we will also encourage our current faculty and staff to take advantage of its resources,” says Dr. Thompson.
ACU Vice President for Development John Tyson says roughly 60 percent of the anticipated cost for the project — more than $12 million — has already been raised. Construction costs will be paid for through a combination of donor gifts and financing rather than out of student tuition payments.
“This center is going to be cutting edge,” says Tyson. “With a project of this magnitude, we’re clearly relying on the generosity of the university’s long-time supporters, but we also expect new friends will step forward to say they want to lend a hand.”