Regents approve $10 million addition to McKale Center

Arizona Summer Wildcat Student Regent Jonathan Schmitt

The UA Athletics Department won initial approval last week for a new 37,000-square-foot, $10 million strength and conditioning facility for UA athletes.

The department presented its facility proposal to the Arizona Board of Regents, which met Thursday at the Marriott University Park, 800 E. Second St.

The proposed facility will be added onto to the north side of McKale Center, and will include expanded and updated training facilities, a computer and tutoring area, and a heritage hall where UA athletic awards and memorabilia will be showcased.

In addition, the existing facilities in McKale will be converted into a women's locker room, said Jim Livengood, director of the UA Athletics Department.

Livengood and Joel Valdez, senior vice president for business affairs, emphasized that no state funds will be needed to design and construct the building. They said the $10-million price tag will be picked up by university donors.

A fund-raising campaign was not started before the regents meeting, but Livengood had "sent out some feelers," and said the project would not have been proposed if he was not sure the funding would materialize.

The department already has about $200,000 to $300,000 set aside to begin converting the existing space into the women's facility, Livengood said.

He said the new facility is needed to aide in rehabilitation, prevent injuries caused by inadequate conditioning, and provide adequate services for female athletes - in compliance with Title IX, federal legislation passed in 1972 requiring gender equality in access to educational programs.

Regent Jonathan Schmitt said, in support of the plan: "We basically have a high school weight training facility here." He encouraged the board to grant conceptual approval of the project at its next meeting in August. Schmitt is the outgoing student regen t and will no longer be on the board at that time. Conceptual approval is the second step in a three-step approval process required for all university construction projects.

One concern raised by Regent Judy Gignac was whether the project would move forward before the fund raising is complete.

The facility will not be started without adequate funding, Livengood said at the meeting. He said the department expects to raise $1 million to $2 million in the next year.

An estimated completion date is 2000.

After the project won the board's initial approval, Livengood said: "I think the project makes sense, the timing makes sense. There's no down side."

He also mentioned that the UA's recruitment efforts have been hindered by the existing 15-year-old weight room.

That facility was originally designed to hold 140 athletes, mostly drawn from the football program. Today, however, it serves about 450 athletes from 18 sports.

Livengood said he hopes to be able to use the facility's approval as a recruiting tool because he is sure the university has lost elite athletes because of the outdated training facilities.

In other business, the regents authorized the UA's Sierra Vista branch campus to seek independent accreditation from the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

The UA also received approval to negotiate a ground-lease for the second phase of the Environment and Natural Resources Building, on Sixth Street between Park and Fremont avenues.