Iowa State University Students Vote on Rec Center Renovation

AMES, IA -- Last week, Iowa State University (ISU) students voted on a proposed $52.8 million recreation plan that ISU recreation professionals are calling an “extreme makeover” for the Lied Recreation Center. Although results have yet to be announced, support for the plan was mixed, according to the Des Moines Register.

If approved, student fees would fund the recreation renovation project. Fees would be assessed in a phased progression. Once the renovation/construction begins, student fees would be $20 per semester for the first two years. In the third year of the project and continuing for the remainder of the 25-year bond, student fees would increase to the full amount of $107 per semester.

The anticipated completion date for the entire project is 2011. The renovation would include 92,320 square feet of new space, a 16,000-square-foot weight/fitness room, a 40-foot climbing wall, a leisure pool, a hot tub, a sauna, a 25-meter lap pool, three full-length baskeball courts and an elevated running track.

If passed by ISU students, the plan would then need approval from university administration and the state’s Board of Regents, according to ISU’s Web site.