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The University of Louisville has been changing over the past decade, becoming a predominantly residential campus dominated by new student housing on the western edge of its Belknap Campus south of Old Louisville. To accommodate this surge in student population living nearby, the university has released plans to build a $38 million student recreation center along Fourth Street on the site of a vast surface parking lot.

Plans call for constructing a 128,000-square-foot Student Recreation Center (SRC) adjacent to Kurtz and Minardi halls on Fourth Street south of Cardinal Boulevard. Included in the program are exercise and aerobic facilities, a gymnasium with six courts for basketball and volleyball, a flex court for indoor soccer and hockey, racquetball courts, a fitness lab, gaming area, classrooms, and support areas. Behind Kurtz Hall, an artificial turf field called the Great Lawn surrounded by grassy pyramids for spectators can handle outdoor sports.

Designed by Omni Architects with Carman Landscape Architects, the building hopes to achieve LEED Gold certification for sustainability. According to the university, the SRC will be the first UL building to utilize geothermal heating and cooling.

Student government leaders have been discussing such a facility with the student body since 2009 and student input played a key role in the facility’s planning. Funding has not been completed and the university is seeking private donations in addition to assessing a $98-per-semester fee to full time students. The Student Recreation Center is expected to be complete in the fall of 2013.

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