The Upper Valley Aquatic Center will begin $3 million in renovations this summer, adding 8,000 square feet for a larger locker room, group exercise studio and physical therapy center. The additions will also feature natural light, open views and a fitness mezzanine that overlooks the fitness floor.
Groups from Dartmouth, including the men’s and women’s swim teams, men’s and women’s club water polo teams, Greek organizations and Dartmouth Center for Service organizations use the center for various activities. Many Dartmouth students also utilize the pool and other facilities such as the fitness center, executive director of UVAC Richard Synnott said.
The expansion is due to the growth of the center’s membership base, increased day pass use from the community and an increase in the number of families using the center.
Synnott said that the additions, which will also include a daycare center, are geared towards single parents attending the facility with young children. There are also about 120 student memberships at the center, including Dartmouth students, Synnott said.
“When we have a big swim meet, the locker rooms are too small to accommodate students who are part of the swim meet and our regular members who are attending the rest of the regular facility,” Synnott said. “The new locker rooms are going to add a third more space than the locker rooms now, if not double.”
Logan Briggs ’16, captain of the men’s swim team, said that while the team does not practice at the center, they hold the large, two-day Dartmouth Invitational swim meet at the center’s facilities. During the meet, the swim team has not felt the need for larger locker rooms, Briggs said.
“The guys’ locker room had [both] a men’s and boys’ side,” Briggs said. “There was quite a bit of space for people to use, and we didn’t notice any issues. Other facilities, from my experience, are more crowded than UVAC.”
While the annual swim meet, which takes place in January, is an important event for the swim team, the team may no longer host the event starting next year due to insufficient funding, Briggs said.
Caitlin Flint ’16, captain of the women’s water polo team, said that the plans for the renovations has not affected the team’s practices at UVAC, which take place once a week.
“We practice at very odd, late times,” Flint said. “We don’t run into that many people.”
The announcement of the renovation came before plans and budgets were fully formed. UVAC is still waiting to receive approval from the town’s planning and zoning board, as well as a permit from the state which could take two to three months, Synnott said. However, the board decided to publicly announce the renovations because the center had made its intentions public information after receiving approval from the select board of the town last week.
UVAC plans to host a grand opening of the new space by January 2017. The improvements will be done in phases to minimize interruption to the center’s activities.
