URC at EWU holds grand opening

CHENEY – After nearly two years of construction, the Eastern Washington University Recreation Center – URC – opens today with grand-opening ceremonies beginning at 1:30 p.m.

Crews broke ground on the $26.3 million facility in July 2006. Students approved a 30-year bond to pay for the 117,699-square-foot building. Every quarter for the next 30 years, each student will pay a $65 activity fee. The general operating costs will be picked up by the university, and fees for the general public will contribute to that as well.

The new building will be the home of intramural and club hockey games, public skating, pick-up basketball games, volleyball, a fitness center (formerly known as the Body Shop, which was located in the Phase) and a late-night bistro.

The 19,455-square-foot ice rink is NHL regulation-sized, and has had ice down for about a month.

The school has a hockey club that will be able to use the ice, but the locker rooms weren’t designed to be large enough to fit hockey players and all of their gear.

“It wasn’t built for a hockey team,” said David Early, the director of recreational facilities.

Early said that crews from the Spokane Arena came in and painted the ice with the EWU Eagle and laid vinyl cutouts of the hash marks and circles.

Workers first put down a layer of ice that was about a half inch thick before it could be painted an opaque white. The Eagles logo was painted onto the white ice and the vinyl cutouts were set in place before the rink was flooded with 120-degree water with hoses that workers had to keep moving in order to keep the rest of the ice from melting.

The ice rink can hold about 1,000 spectators, and there will be 500 pairs of hockey and ice skates available to rent.

The gymnasium is 8,040 square feet and will be the home of pick-up basketball games and volleyball games. It’s not a regulation-sized basketball court.

“There’s not a single dead spot on it,” Early said of the gym floor.

Suspended above the gym floor is a 200-meter running track that leads to the Fitness Center.

Early said the track was built for running, with enough traction for speed but enough elasticity to be friendly to the runners’ joints.

The Fitness Center has two floors – one will have equipment for strength training and one will have equipment for cardio-vascular exercise.

There are 14 LCD flat-screen televisions on the cardio floor of the center. All are quiet TVs that people on stair masters, elliptical cycles, treadmills and stationary bikes can plug headphones into so people around them don’t have to listen to the same channel.

The Fitness Center won’t be in use until June 21, when the equipment can be moved from the Body Shop into the new building.

Early said the building is ADA accessible, and there are two elevators in the building.

The building also boasts a 35-foot climbing wall, one that will offer several different kinds of climbing, including top roping, bouldering and lead climbing. There is also a 10-foot tall synthetic sheet of ice to practice ice climbing.

The climbing wall will be run by EPIC Adventures, the outdoor recreation program on campus. The program offers outdoor trips and literature for students to plan their own trips.

Along with EPIC Adventures, the facility is now the new home of the campus health, wellness and prevention department and the campus recreation department.

The Roost is the new restaurant in the URC, and it serves nontraditional meals for the late-night crowd.

Dustin Crapper, the production chef at the Roost, said his favorite item on the menu – which was hard for him to choose – is the chicken pesto focaccia sandwich.

He said the Roost offers such fare as rice bowls filled with stir-fry. Customers can pick their protein and the sauce that goes with it. Customers can choose from chili garlic, teriyaki, spicy or peanut sauce.

The restaurant is filling the late-night dining niche that was left open after a dining hall was closed in one of the dorms.

Peter Curry, the food service manager, said that the Roost will be open from noon to midnight Monday through Thursday, noon to 11 p.m. Friday and 6 to 11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

“We lose kids Friday nights to the big city next door,” Curry said.

The facility governing board has come to a decision regarding rates for non-EWU students interested in using the facility.

Early said that faculty, staff, retired staff members and alumni may use the Rec Center for $25 a month or $275 for an annual pass. The family rate for them which covers two or more family members – will be $40 a month or $440 annually.

For everyone else, the monthly fee will be $35 a month or $385 annually, and the family rate will be $60 a month for two or more people or $660 for an annual pass.

Day passes will be $5.

Early said these fees don’t contribute to the facility’s debt, but they go toward the everyday operating costs of the URC.

During today’s festivities, there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and EWU President Rodolfo Arévalo, the board of trustees for the school and the Associated Students of Eastern Washington University President Evan Buelt and Cheney Mayor Allan Gainer and his staff have been invited to attend.

After the ceremony, there will be an open house of the facility with self-guided tours through the afternoon.