Thursday, August 23, 2001
Rickel renovations underway
Most services to continue until winter break
By Heather Christie
staff reporter

Students and sports teams will have limited use of the Rickel Building until December when it closes for renovation and construction of a new 202,000-square-feet recreation center.

Director of recreational sports Steven Kintigh said everything except racquetball and tennis will be open until winter break.

Erin Munger/PHOTO EDITOR The major demolition phase of the recreation center renovations was completed this summer. All services except the tennis and racquetball courts will be available until December.

A temporary weight and cardiovascular room will be built when the Rickel closes. The rooms will be housed in the former Cokesbury Bookstore at 2720 W. Berry, in front of the TCU police department.

Most of the Rickel Building staff are not afraid of losing their jobs, said Justin Meeks, a junior speech major.

“They will probably hire one or two more people for the new weight room,” Meeks said. “We will move to two different locations, if not three.”

Kintigh said the recreation center is trying to get special rates for students, faculty and alumni at other area recreation centers.

The YMCA is offering student memberships for $30.30 per month and faculty memberships for $46 per month for individuals or $70 per month for families.

Kintigh said he is working with Fitness Connection to get special rates, but 24-Hour Fitness was not interested in working with TCU.

The only change in intramural sports is that basketball will run along with football in the fall, and soccer and softball will be in the spring, Kintigh said.

The swim team will use area pools for practice beginning in December.The volleyball team will move to the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum for practices and matches, Kintigh said.

Since the tennis courts have been demolished, students may use the 27 courts at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center for a discounted rate of $3.50 for 90 minutes, Kintigh said.

Kintigh said the name of the new recreation could be either University Recreation Center or TCU Recreation Center, but the Rickel name will be recognized somewhere.

Improvements to the new recreation center will include a purple indoor track, a 12,000-square-feet weight room, an indoor pool, an outdoor pool with a hot tub, a 1,000-square-feet climbing wall and locker rooms with a sauna, Kintigh said.

The Academic West Wing, traditionally known as the Rickel Building, will be renovated to include the kinesiology department, the Writing Center, the Math Lab, Trio Programs and the Intensive English Program. The opening date for the 40,000-square-feet Academic West Wing is tentatively set for fall 2002.

Architects for the recreation center are Canon Design of Los Angeles and Hahnfeld Associates of Fort Worth.

Canon, the lead architect, designed recreation centers for Arizona State University and the University of California in Los Angeles.

Heather J. Christie
h.j.chrisitie@student.tcu.edu

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