The University of Minnesota Duluth Wednesday celebrated the grand opening of its new $12.4 million UMD Sports and Health Center Addition. The enhanced complex contains northern Minnesota's largest and most comprehensive athletic and recreational facilities.
The brand new 46,000 square foot facility features the very latest in state-of-the-art strengthening, toning and fitness equipment of all types, said Mick McComber, director of UMD Recreational Sports Outdoor Program. He said, "Student demand for recreational and fitness activities has grown sharply through the years. With our new expanded facilities, UMD is now able to provide these healthy life-style activities to our students, faculty and staff."
In recent years, statistics show that about 90 percent of UMD students have participated in exercise and fitness, as well as some 450 faculty/staff. But waiting lines were very long, sometimes hours. McComber estimates that about 1,500 people will use the new facilities each day. "Perhaps even much more than that," he added.
The addition contains:
- two group exercise rooms
- a 37-foot climbing wall
- recreational gymnasium containing multi-purpose flooring
- a two-level fitness center featuring 65 pieces of cardio machines, tread mills, elliptical machines, upright and recumbent bikes and weight machines.
The UMD Department of Athletics occupies 10,000 square feet of the new addition. This is four times the size of its old space (which was 2,400 square feet). The space will be used for team training for all UMD sports-everything from tennis to football and allows athletes to train both in and off-season. The strength and conditioning coaching staff also have offices there.
The new addition is designed to coordinate with UMD's existing facilities, making it a fully functioning Sports and Health Center Complex. The complex includes swimming pool, Romano Gymnasium, Olympic size ice rink, sports medicine facilities, classrooms, meeting rooms, locker rooms for students, faculty, staff, and intercollegiate teams, Ward Wells Field House, Malosky Field/Griggs Stadium.
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The total cost of the project is $12.4 million.
In the spring of 2001 UMD students voted to contribute $4 million toward the Sports and Health Center Addition by authorizing a $50 increase in their annual student fees. The Minnesota Legislature then authorized $8.4 million in the spring of 2005. A ground-breaking ceremony for the new addition was held May 3, 2005.
Hours of operation are:
Monday through Friday, 6:15 a.m. to midnight
Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sundays, noon to 9 p.m.
