Hutzell Athletics Center gets OK for facelift

University of Saint Francis Athletics announced today that the USF Board of Trustees has approved a $200,000 renovation plan for the Hutzell Athletics Center. In addition, the USF Leadership Council has approved a proposal from Hawk Construction, Inc. to complete all renovations this Summer.

USF Director of Athletics Mark A. Pope stated that the major components of the Hutzell Renovation Project will include expanded locker rooms for both men's and women's teams, a larger Training Room for all student-athletes, and a new office complex. "Our facility has served us well for the past 20 years," said Pope. "However, Hutzell was built at a time when we had far fewer student-athletes than we have today. We need to expand the size and quality of our locker rooms and training room, to provide for our growth."

In addition, USF Athletics will build all new offices for all coaches and staff who are currently housed at Hutzell. "Our partners, Design Collaborative Architects and Hawk Construction, have come up with an innovative and cost-effective design to allow our coaches and staff to have larger offices," said Pope. "The design will include an open concept that is utilized by most corporate offices today. I believe that it will be a more collegial place to work than the current office structure."

Hawk Construction has already commenced work on the project and will complete all work before the start of the Fall Semester. Ben Graves, President of Hawk Construction, will oversee the project. "This is a great opportunity for Hawk to work with Design Collaborative and USF Athletics," said Graves. "We are mindful of the timeline to complete this project before classes start in the Fall, and we're looking forward to delivering a quality project."

For further questions, contact Mark A. Pope, Director of Athletics, at 260-399-7700, ext. 6202.