IOWA CITY, IA -- The University of Iowa (UI) officially opened its new $70 million Campus Recreation and Wellness Center on Monday. The 150,000-square-foot center features a 20,000-square-foot fitness area across three floors of the multi-level facility.

School officials hope the new rec center will serve as a recruitment tool as well as a social meeting spot for students. The University of Iowa Admissions Office even created a video tour of the rec center.

“I think it’s going to be a facility that will affect this campus in a sense that it will be a gathering point for students, with not only great recreational, but also social facilities,” Harry Ostrander, UI director of recreational services, said in a statement. “I think it will be a great recruitment tool for students to come to the University of Iowa.”

The rec center features a wellness services area, a 52 1/2-foot-high climbing wall, a 1/9-mile jogging track, three activity rooms, three multipurpose courts, a café, lounge area and locker rooms. Staff members from the UI Wellness, Health Iowa and Recreational Services department will provide fitness assessments and nutrition counseling in the wellness area. Massage therapy also will be available.

In addition, the facility includes an aquatics center with a 50-meter competitive swimming pool, a separate diving well and a leisure pool with amenities including zero-depth entry, a small lazy river, bubble benches, a spa, a rock bouldering wall and an 11-foot video board.

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