New opportunities for getting fit, playing club sports or holding an indoor varsity sports practice will be available to the Vanderbilt community, pending Board of Trust approval of the proposed Vanderbilt recreation center and multipurpose facility.
The board is expected to vote during its spring meeting April 19-20. The project re-imagines sports and fitness at Vanderbilt moving toward the trend on many college campuses of combined recreation facilities that serve students, faculty and staff. The project will involve enhancing the existing Student Recreation Center and making it open to the entire Vanderbilt community as well as the construction of a multipurpose facility near the intramural fields alongside the recreation center.
The multipurpose facility will include an indoor practice field that can be used for varsity football, soccer and lacrosse as well as intramural and club sports teams. An indoor track – open for use by the university’s athletic teams and students, faculty and staff – will also be part of the multipurpose facility.
Upgrades to the recreation center include expanding weight training, cardiovascular and fitness areas as well as the addition of a four-lane bowling alley that will both support the university’s bowling team and provide a new recreational activity.
Health Plus fitness programs and services for faculty and staff also will move to the expanded recreation center. Currently, Student Recreation Center and Health Plus staff are working together to determine how to best meet the needs of the Vanderbilt community at the center.
The multipurpose facility is expected to have some impact on the local community as well as it will increase the capacity for some of Vanderbilt’s popular summer camps for children used by the Vanderbilt and Nashville communities. There will also be limited rental opportunities for the Nashville community, such as the hosting of major indoor high school track meets.