According to the Hillsdale College administration, the Margot V. Biermann Athletics Center will be completed on time.
The new athletics center is slated to be finished by mid-February of 2013, and Hillsdale College will have a new space for the track team, as well as tennis capabilities year-round. The new center will also be large enough to fit events such as convocation and commencement, and it will be acoustically prepared for them.
The Biermann Center has been in construction since early June and has remained on or ahead of schedule since the beginning. The approximately 70,000 square foot building will immediately be home to the track and field team and tennis team, and be open for faculty and student use.
“We don’t like to rush things, because then there is always a reason something needs to be touched-up or redone,” Chief Administrative Officer Rich Péwé said. “We don’t have any scheduled events for the building, not before it is finished. If it is usable before the second week of February then we’ll use it, but it looks like we won’t have any troubles meeting that finish date.”
One of the most anticipated features of the Biermann Center is the new indoor track, which far exceeds the minimum standard for hosting meets and will allow the team to compete just as much but travel significantly less.
“We’re always looking for ways to travel less,” Péwé said. “Hillsdale students have a large academic load, and traveling takes away from study time, so the better the facilities we have, the more likely it is students can stay and sleep in their own beds.”
With the old track in the George C. Roche Sports Complex, the school wasn’t eligible to host meets. With a new “faster” track having a higher-quality material with a more gradual curve and a space actually designated to the track team, it will be a huge boon to the team, Péwé said.
“One of the primary reasons for the new track is we can’t host any meets on our current facilities,” Director of Athletics Don Brubacher said. “The college standards have changed significantly since the current facilities were built. The Biermann building will replace the track space but not the other uses of the current arena.”
The new facilities are not intended to replace the old so much as to supplement certain programs and provide a larger space for student body events.
“It’ll get everything congesting Phillips Auditorium, which is cluttering it up and it won’t have safety issues anymore,” Brubacher said.
Brubacher also said the new building will house large special events, such as commencement and convocation.
“The space will be open to students and faculty for events,” Brubacher said. “But the track and tennis events are the only typical activities which will be fully moved to the Biermann Athletics Center.”
