SUNY New Paltz opens Athletic and Wellness Center

NEW PALTZ — The State University of New York at New Paltz held a grand opening ceremony today to officially open the college’s new 57,000 square-foot Athletic and Wellness Center.

The new Athletic and Wellness Center was built just south of, and is connected, to the Elting Gymnasium. Activity spaces within the building include two cardiovascular and weight training fitness centers at the west and east ends. These two areas are connected with an elevated, window-lined 1/9th-mile walking/jogging track that encircles a premium, competition wood gym floor.

“Our students and entire campus community have long been underserved by the facilities in the Elting Gymnasium,” said David Rooney, vice president of Student Affairs. “The addition of the new Athletic and Wellness Center will now bring us up to a level where we can adequately support our campus’ recreational and wellness needs.”

Rooney believes that once the new facility is operational, the demand by students, faculty and staff will be great, and that within the first year of being open, the college will study the usage and continually fine-tune the operating schedule to learn how to best serve the campus’ needs. The college does not anticipate making this facility available beyond members of the campus community, as it was constructed to serve the needs of the 8,000 students and 1,600 faculty and staff.

The college will continue to offer the public the use of other campus recreational facilities, such as: the fee-based Elting pool and the south-campus tennis courts; the use of the existing Elting Gym weight room to the New Paltz fire and police departments, and the New Paltz rescue squad free-of-charge; and the fee-based use of certain facilities to area high schools for tournaments and other sporting events whenever possible.

Also as a part of the project, a new state-of-the-art 400-meter outdoor track was built. It encircles a new athletic field, which will be utilized for field sports. In addition, a west-side campus entrance was opened and 530 additional parking spaces were created.