In the coming months, an $18 million athletic, recreation and fitness center is expected to rise at Saint Vincent College, where leaders are touting the development as opening up an improved range of opportunities for student life and the local community.
The 82,200-square-foot development, tentatively expected to be two stories tall, will be located next to the Fred M. Rogers Center on the campus in Latrobe. A groundbreaking is planned this spring and construction is due to be finished in 2023, officials say.
The building is being developed largely through private donations, although a Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will also help fund the work, officials said.
The college identified the primary donors as Ed and Anna Dunlap and Tim and Teri Dunlap and their families. Officials did not specify the dollar amount or their relation to Saint Vincent.
The Dunlap Family Athletic and Recreation Center will be named in honor of them.
“This new Dunlap Family Center will deliberately and explicitly meet the needs of the students at Saint Vincent College. It was designed carefully with input from students and with attention to the latest technology and kinesiologic science,” Father Paul Taylor, president of Saint Vincent, said in a statement “We are very grateful to Ed and Anna Dunlap, Tim and Teri Dunlap and their families for their generous gift and confidence in us.”
“Their investment in Saint Vincent and in the lives of our students will bear much fruit today and in the generations ahead,” the president added.
Facilities will be available for recreation and exercise, intramural athletic competition and varsity athletic practice in a development that school administrators say will positively impact educational, cultural, civic and recreational programming for Saint Vincent and local communities.
Included under its roof will be a fitness room with cardio and circuit training equipment; a recreational track; and instruction rooms for yoga, Pilates and other fitness classes. Also, the center will feature an artificial turf practice field and a group of multipurpose sport courts intended to offer varsity athletes weather-protected practices and intramural athletes with space for year-round competition, officials said.
It will also include square footage for an athletic training center for medical therapy and treatment. There will also be meeting rooms, visiting spaces and a healthy cafe, according to the college.
Saint Vincent, a Catholic institution, enrolls about 1,750 students on its 200-acre campus.
Bill Schackner: bschackner@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1977 and on Twitter: @Bschackner
First Published: February 21, 2022, 10:03 p.m.