With an ever expanding student population and what seems like a shrinking recreation center, Quinnipiac is finally stepping up to the plate.

With the development of new dorms on the York Hill campus, a new three story facility is being built that will include a new recreation center, as well as a new dining hall and a new student activities center.

The building is scheduled for completion in 2009, and is designed to centralize everything located on the Mt. Carmel campus for the students on York Hill. A three-story, 80,000 square foot facility, the building will have half of an entire floor dedicated to a weight room, dance studios, a spinning classroom, and a cardio area.

According to Jack McDonald, Director of Athletics and Recreation, the facility will be “better than anything on campus now”, and will “enhance the student’s experience” at Quinnipiac University.

This new facility has been called for by students for quite some time now. When asked about the current weight room, sophomore Devon Bushey said, “It’s too small for the number of people who go here, and I am discouraged from using it since it’s always so crowded and I always have to wait for machines.” The new recreation center should create an easier situation for the students by alleviating some of the traffic in current recreation center.

Now, with another option for students, the machines should last longer, and very rarely will students need to wait to use any of the equipment that is at their fingertips.

Along with this new, “enhanced” recreation center, will be a floor dedicated to the student activities center, as well as a large dining hall. The hope of centralizing all of the buildings is to provide students with more incentive to use them.

Currently on the main campus, the large amount of area between the cafeteria/student center, dorms, and recreation center may discourage some from using some of the facilities provided by the university. As plans show, having all of the amenities at the York Hill campus in one place should encourage students to use everything that is open to them.

With all this change off-campus, there is also going to be some modifications to the on campus facilities. Since the basketball court in the Burt Kahn Gym is not the main basketball court any more, the stands will be removed in favor of offices or student activity center, according to Jack McDonald. This is an attempt to start the centralization of the main campus facilities in the same vein as the York Hill campus.