A state-of-the-art recreation and retail facility is slated to open on University Avenue in 2014. The project, called the University Avenue Garage, will be composed of four floors — three floors of recreation space and one floor of retail.

“It’s a huge project,” said Joe Lore, director of the Department of Recreation Services at Syracuse University. “We’ve been working on it for a long time.

The developer, Tom Valenti of the Cameron Group, will begin construction this month, Lore said. The Department of Recreation Services and SU have been working on this project since the summer of 2007, when a private developer approached the university about purchasing and developing the “grassy knoll” past the Martin J. Whitman School of Management.

Last July, the Syracuse Common Council voted in favor of a 30-year payment in lieu of tax agreement, or PILOT, for the new bookstore. Passing the PILOT was controversial because the bookstore is being built by Cameron Group LLC, a private development company, rather than SU, which is tax-exempt.

The top floor will include cardio machines and windowed walls, which will allow users to overlook the city as they exercise, Lore said.

In addition, the new space is much larger than Archbold Gymnasium. While Archbold has 18 treadmills and 16 elliptical cross-trainers, Lore said the cardio floor of the new facility will have 30-40 of each type of machine.

“Students will not have to wait anymore for a machine,” he said.

The third floor will consist entirely of free weights and weight machines, Lore said.

The main floor of the University Avenue Garage project will include three multi-use dance studios or exercise rooms, he said, in an effort to accommodate student organizations during times in the evening, after classes have finished.

The renovations, however, will not stop at University Avenue.

“Students have always said, ‘We’re a basketball school and we don’t have a lot of basketball courts on campus,’” Lore said.

Moving the location of exercise facilities will enable the space in Archbold Gymnasium, which is currently the largest facility on campus, to be renovated, he said.

Lore said after the machines are cleared out of Archbold, the floors will be sanded down and refinished to create three basketball courts, instead of the current single court.

“It’s kind of a hand-in-hand project. It’s really a huge step in terms of health and wellness on this campus, in terms of meeting and exceeding students’ needs — and we’re really excited about it,” Lore said.

Timothy Eddy, assistant director of fitness centers, said in an email that he and his department continuously strive to provide the best environment and learning opportunities for the university community in the area of health and wellness.

“The creation of the new space will allow for this continued growth while also allowing for a better use of the current Archbold Fitness Center space when it is re-purposed back to basketball courts,” Eddy said. “Overall participation and facility usage across Recreation Services continues to increase every year.”

Eddy said he looks forward to the increased space and brand new equipment the facility will bring.

Said Eddy: “Imagining the ‘wow’ factor for all new patrons when they enter the facility for the first time is one of the best motivators in the planning process of the facility.”

Published on April 2, 2013 at 11:12 pm

Contact Allie: ajcaren@syr.edu