The University of Indianapolis is launching a capital campaign for a proposed 103,000-square-foot Student Athletics & Recreation Center, which will provide much-needed space for sports teams and related academic programs as well as fitness facilities for the entire campus community.

 

The overall cost of the project is estimated at $7 million to $8 million, most of which will be covered through bonding, but university officials hope to generate $2 million or more in broad-based private support.

 

The campaign was announced formally Saturday’s football home opener against Hillsdale College.

 

Current plans for the proposed two-story Student Athletics & Recreation Center include office space and a training room for the athletics program; a Hall of Champions; an optional indoor track and intramural basketball courts; and offices and locker rooms for football, men’s and women’s soccer and men’s and women’s track and field. The likely construction site is north of Key Stadium along State Avenue.

 

The new center would help alleviate crowding and scheduling issues in the university’s existing Ruth Lilly Fitness Center, where the ball courts, weight rooms and other facilities are shared by athletes and non-athletes alike. Moving athletic offices out of the Ruth Lilly center also will create classroom space for UIndy’s popular academic programs in kinesiology and sports medicine.

 

University trustees Michael Watkins, president of Mike Watkins Real Estate Group, and Thomas Martin, president of Bloomington Ford, are chairing the capital campaign. Both are alumni of the university.

 

For information on the Student Athletics & Recreation Center and the campaign, contact Director of Development Andy Kocher at (317) 788-3493 or akocher@uindy.edu.

To view complete plans of the facility, click here (pdf).