Plans are set for the construction of a brand new Student Recreation and Aquatics Center which will feature three regulation basketball courts, a new locker room, brand new pools and an indoor track.
According to Josee Larochelle, Interim VP of Finances, construction will begin starting next year and continue until its completion in 2018, possibly 2019. The renderings reveal that the building will have glass walls on the second floor, an overhead bridge that connects to the Event Center and easy access for students.
“It is going to be housed in the area where currently Royce Hall and Hoover Hall are,” Larochelle said. “They will be demolishing Royce and Hoover Hall after the Spring semester.”
Despite this, Larochelle said San Jose State will have more student housing than ever upon completion of Campus Village 2 (CV2) which will be available for students in the Fall.
“(CV2) will hold about 850 students in it,” said Interim President Sue Martin. “So the two residence halls that are being removed have about 400 beds, so we are actually increasing.”
One of the goals of this building is to create a more visual appeal to the campus as well as having recreational equipment that students can enjoy.
“We are working really hard with the architects to create a visual experience for the users that will brighten up our campus,” Larochelle said.
The building will be two stories tall.
Construction will come at a price for the aquatic teams because the demolition of the current Aquatics Center will occur during their season. With this, the teams will now have to practice at facilities outside of SJSU until the project is complete.
“We will be practicing at multiple facilities throughout the south Bay Area,” women’s swimming head coach Sage Hopkins. “While there will be many challenges with practicing off campus during these two and three-quarter seasons we will be displaced, we are looking forward to the opportunities that our new facility will provide.”
“The athletic department is working on locations in the area for those teams to continue to practice,” Larochelle said. “There are firm plans in place.”
The square footage of the building is 124,000 square feet and will cost the school $130 million to complete.
“We are going to use the student fees to pay basically the mortgage on the building over the next 30 years,” Larochelle said.
The money to fund the building is coming from the Student Union fee that students have to pay as a part of tuition to SJSU.
“We do not have $130 million in the bank,” Larochelle said. “It will be borrowed and financed and we will be going to the Board of Trustees for approval in November.”
Also included in the new building will be brand new fitness and workout equipment, giving students a wider range of areas to work out in.
This will have no effect on the current Spartan Gym, located in the Event Center. Larochelle said they are still working out the plans on what they will do with that once this project is completed.
“The building will have duel plumbing, utilizing recycled water,” Larochelle said. “We are currently looking right now at what kind of sustainability it might have.”
The construction of the building will have very little effect on the foot traffic along the south side of the Event Center. Larochelle said once the building is finished, that pathway will be wider and easier for students to navigate through.
