The UVM board of trustees presented the plans Friday for building a new events center that would host basketball games, renovating Gutterson Fieldhouse — which hosts ice hockey games — and expanding the health and wellness facility for students.
Tom Gustafson, the vice president for university relations and administration at UVM, said the board approved the conceptual plans Saturday and the next step is architectural design. If all goes according to plan, construction would start in early 2019.
Gustafson said UVM plans to borrow part of the $80 million and pay it off through a student recreation fee of up to $300 a year. The rest of the money would be raised through philanthropy.
“A lot of schools have an athletics fee and a student recreation fee. We just have an athletic fee,” Gustafson said. He said UVM can raise the fee while still being competitive in its overall cost and that the fee would still be less than students would pay for a private gym membership.
Jeff Schulman, the UVM athletic director, said the upgrades would help attract more students and athletes to the university, an NCAA Division I school for both basketball and hockey.
The new events center will seat about 3,200 people for basketball games and nearly 4,000 for events such as concerts. The center will be connected to Gutterson Fieldhouse in an L shape.
The renovation to Gutterson Fieldhouse will dramatically improve the seating, according to Schulman. In certain places where fans currently must sit on benches, they will have seatbacks, Schulman said, and the seating layout will be changed to make it easier to walk around.
The health and wellness facility will be expanded from 15,000 square feet to 86,000 square feet. The facility will include traditional fitness equipment as well as lounges, healthy eating spaces and a demonstration kitchen.
“It’s important to note that the core of our athletic, health and recreation facilities was built in 1963, so it’s over 50 years old,” Schulman said. “We’ve known for quite some time that upgrades were needed to better meet the health, wellness, fitness and athletic interests of our student body and the campus community.”
The UVM men’s basketball team has been competitive in Division I of the America East Conference for the past 17 years, according to Schulman, and is on track to win another championship this year. The men’s and women’s hockey teams are in the top 15 in the nation, he said.
“Prospective students, both varsity athletes and non-varsity athletes, are savvy consumers, and as they’re evaluating their choices around colleges and universities, one of the things that they’re evaluating is the quality of health and wellness and athletic spaces on campuses,” Schulman said. “I’m confident this project will enhance our efforts around enrollment management and recruitment of high-level varsity athletes.”
The cities of Burlington and South Burlington had both explored partnering with the university to host a new multipurpose stadium off campus.
