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With $25 million in private support,
Recreation and Wellness Center moves ahead

Sacramento State has raised more than $25 million in private support for a Recreation, Wellness, Events Center and Stadium Complex, a project on the south side of campus that has been a high priority for the University.

Campus officials are planning a groundbreaking on the first phase of the project – a new fieldhouse – by fall 2006. Groundbreaking for the second phase – a Recreation and Wellness Center – will be as soon as late 2007.

Fundraising efforts continue for both facilities, as well as for a stadium renovation and a 6,000- to 8,000-seat arena that are also part of the Complex. A range of naming opportunities are available.

The announcement on the fundraising milestone was made by Associated Students President Angel Barajas during a noon-time event in the University Union that featured a “State of the Students” address and the unveiling of a new Associated Students logo. It came just two years after students voted to help pay for the project if University President Alexander Gonzalez could find $25 million in private support.

Barajas called the Recreation and Wellness Center portion of the Complex “a project that will bring new vitality to campus life, and expand the student experience well beyond the classroom.” He thanked those who have worked to make the facility a reality, including students, staff and community members – many of whom were in the audience.

“One of the first things the students told me when I arrived here three years ago was that they wanted to build a facility like this,” President Gonzalez said. “I told them we would support their efforts, and I was confident that the community would respond, which it has. The Recreation and Wellness Center has the potential to change Sacramento State for the better, giving students another reason to stay on campus and experience college life beyond the classroom. It will be a recreational and social center, and a place where students learn healthy lifestyle habits that last a lifetime.”

The more than $25 million in private funding for the Recreation, Wellness, Events Center and Stadium Complex includes a recently signed $12 million memorandum of understanding with Pepsi Bottling Group, $10 million from Alex G. Spanos, $2 million from the Eli and Edythe L. Broad Foundation, about $1 million from an anonymous alumnus and other gifts.

The Complex is a key component of the facilities portion of the University’s Destination 2010 initiative, which seeks to make Sacramento State a destination campus for the West and a premier metropolitan university.

The first phase of the overall Recreation, Wellness, Events Center and Stadium Complex project is a new fieldhouse on the south side of the stadium. It will contain training facilities, coaches’ offices and locker rooms for intercollegiate athletics. Work on the facility, to be named the Broad Athletic Facility, is expected to begin in fall 2006 and be completed by late 2007.

The Recreation and Wellness Center portion of the project will be on the north side of the stadium. It is estimated to cost $50 million and be completed in June 2009. It is envisioned as including such things as a fitness center, athletic courts, rock-climbing walls and a health center, though programming and design have not been completed and the architectural team will be working with the campus community to determine exactly what the facility will contain.

Groundbreaking for the Recreation and Wellness Center will follow completion of the Broad Athletic Facility.

The planned arena, initially envisioned as a part of an even larger Recreation and Wellness Center, is now slated to be built as a separate facility on the east side of the stadium near a new parking structure that is still under construction. The timeline for building the arena and renovating the stadium will depend on additional funding.