Simon Fraser University may soon have a new athletics and recreation centre.
A proposed deal between the university and a yet-to-be-announced proponent is set to go before the school’s board of governors later this spring.
The deal would see SFU provide a 65-year lease on land adjacent to Discovery Park on which a commercial building could be built in exchange for the construction of a 50,000-square-foot recreation facility at the west end of Terry Fox field.
According to Pat Hibbitts, SFU’s vice-president of finance and administration, the cost to construct and bankroll the recreation centre would normally be between $20 and $25-million, but under this proposal it will be done at no cost to the university.
In other words, if the deal goes through SFU gets a rec centre built for free by a proponent, and the proponent gets a chunk of SFU land on which to put a business.
Hibbitts said she could not release the name of the chosen proponent to the NOW until the deal has been voted on by SFU’s Board of Governors but an online notice references the recreation centre in exchange for the construction of B.C.’s first chiropractic school.
Hibbitts said feedback gathered from the students, faculty and staff throughout February showed that 70 per cent are in favour of the proposal.
Reaction from SFU criminology and police studies student Denise Wong was mixed.
“I just think it will be a great and safe area for future students to be in, but to be honest, most students, unless they are living on campus won't stay after class. It's too far away from everything else.
“There needs to be an incentive for them to stay like free showers that are not disgusting and mouldy,” said Wong, adding she no longer uses the Lorne Davies Complex because of the condition of the aging facility.
Hibbitts said the new recreation facility would not only take pressure off the overcrowded Lorne Davies Complex but would also be designed alongside renovations to the complex planned as part of the SFU student society, Build SFU initiative.
“The athletics and recreation facility will provide much needed space that will not only revitalize recreational programming but will allow the necessary swing space to begin the process of renovating the original (circa 1965) facility,” she said, noting the deal will be voted on at a coming board meeting, either May 29 or June 26.
If it passes, shovels could be in the ground by spring of 2015.
“If it doesn’t pass, then it dies on the vine,” Hibbits said.
