By Jim Butts ” The Daily Iowan
Like a forgotten castle surrounded by a grassy moat, the UI Karro Athletics Hall of Fame stands alone at the campus’ western edge. Its attendance numbers are significantly lower than the university’s original estimates, but the addition of new neighbors should help turn the figures around, officials say.
In April 2000 the university issued a press release outlining a $37 million “state-of the art “facility anchored by the Athletics Hall of Fame located at the northwest corner of the Melrose Avenue/Mormon Trek Boulevard intersection.
“The Hall of Fame is expected to draw several hundred thousand visitors in its first years of operation, “said an April 2000 press release.
However, Dale Arens, the director of the hall, said on Wednesday the facility’s attendance grew to a mere 12,000 paying visitors in 2004. He called “several hundred thousand visitors “an unrealistic figure.
At the hall, he said, attendance is growing, and the building is hosting more receptions, auctions, and other events. Still, the extra traffic from tennis buffs won’t hurt.
“The addition of neighbors is just going to be great, “Arens said.
After political wrangling forced more than five years of delays, construction of a controversial new $12 million UI tennis and recreation center on the West Side of campus is finally under way and going smoothly, said Hugh Barry, the head of construction.
While many are excited the 20-tennis court, fitness, and recreation facility is finally slated to open in June 2006, the building won’t be what planners once dreamed up in happier financial times.
Since the facility’s proposal in 2000, UI planners eliminated an Olympic-sized swimming pool, redrew plans in order to avoid bulldozing a university storage facility, and drew fire from some students concerned about the nearly $300 raise in student fees the facility sparked.
“In a nutshell, the original vision is not what it is now, “Arens said.
Opened in 2002, donors completely funded the construction of the Hall of Fame. The new recreation center, on the other hand, is predominantly funded by a $291 increase in student fees.
Although the men and women’s tennis teams will practice and play at the center, university officials insist that the facility is primarily for student recreation use.
“Generally, we’ve had a deficit of recreation facilities, “said Larry Wilson, the UI campus planner.
He noted that the fee increase would also fund the East Side recreation center, which will include a workout facility and new swimming pool, to be built at the intersection of Burlington and Madison Streets. The fees will also help to fund improvements at the IMU.
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