Last Tuesday, college representatives met with Swarthmore Borough officials for a planning and zoning review of a plan to take down the current squash courts and replace that space with a new building designed for wellness, athletics, and theater.
The college will build a new wellness center on top of the old foundations, using as much of the old wood as possible. The building is intended to serve as a multi-purpose space tailored for use by athletics, wellness, and theater.
“There’s a space in it for theater rehearsals and classes, [as well as for] for weight training and fitness training for our athletes that will be shared. It’s designed to supported our athletic teams, though not exclusively.”
There should also be a “big open space that can be used for dance, or aerobics, or yoga, or aerobics, or lots of things. It serves our wellness efforts and it serves our training efforts, and it has a component of it that serves our theater program. So it’s a real multi-use building. It will replace the fitness center that’s in the Mullen tennis center now, and that space then will be available for other fitness and wellness programs,” Hain said.
The last review is a part of the ongoing project to receive approval from local officials. “After that review, it goes to the borough council to decide whether they agree that it’s an okay project to do. And that will be in October.” Stu Hain, vice president of facilities and services, said.
Construction is tentatively scheduled to start in the next month, and the school hopes to have it completed by next August.
The school hopes to soon have open floor plans and viewing for the community, once everything has been finalized by the college board and approved by the borough.
“The design is almost ready for prime time,” Hain said.
The removal of the squash courts, however, will have limited effect on Swarthmore Squash, the campus’s club team.
Swarthmore Squash uses the court as a site on which to stage and attract prospective squash players.
“We hit around with some of the kids that might be interested in squash at Ride the Tide,” Jason Hua, captain of Swarthmore Squash said. “We used to also do our first round of tryouts at those courts. Just to see roughly how many people are interested.”
Additionally, the lacrosse team often uses the site for informal practices, and students may borrow equipment from the field house and play there.
Currently, however, the courts are not designed for international squash play.
Since the courts were not designed according to current regulations, the team must practice elsewhere.
“We actually don’t use the squash courts here. This year and the year before we played at the Fairmount athletic club, at King of Prussia,” Hua said. “We take a van there on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.”
