The College will begin the construction process for the Multipurpose Recreation Center (MRC) on May 8, when the contractor for the project, Suffolk Construction, is scheduled to arrive at the site. The College plans to break ground in late spring with an anticipated opening in winter 2025, the Office of Communications announced on April 8. This facility will serve as a temporary replacement of the Towne Field House, which closed in March 2022 following the discovery of structural issues.
Project Manager Julie Sniezek outlined the reasons for the temporary facility in an email to the Record. She explained that the shorter time frame for the MRC will help relieve disruptions caused by the closure of the Towne Field House. “Currently, the track teams are traveling a far distance off campus for this purpose,” she wrote. “Once a more permanent solution is developed for the field house, the building will be converted to other uses, which could include indoor tennis courts.”
The MRC will be located north of campus near Stetson Road. The College retained architectural firm Perkins&Will in late March for a 12-month programming study in advance of new athletic facilities, wellness initiatives, and outdoor spaces on campus, Associate Vice President for Campus Planning and Operations Mina Amundsen told the Record in an interview.
According to Acting Director of Athletics Carolyn Miles, the MRC will function as a temporary replacement for Towne, housing indoor tennis courts; batting cages for softball and baseball; an indoor track; a climbing wall; and indoor spaces for physical education classes and outing club activities. The College plans to spend $40 million to construct the MRC — including $1.1 million to demolish and secure the Towne Field House site — supplemented in part by an anonymous $25 million donation last month.
Amundsen told the Record that the College plans to build and renew athletic spaces, keeping varsity and non-varsity users in mind.
After hiring Perkins&Will, the College turned to students for input on the study, which it identified as a priority early in the planning process, Amundsen said. This year-long program is meant to create a planning study for which athletics and wellness spaces the College wants to build, renovate, and re-purpose. It will estimate each project’s cost so the planning team can have an overall timeline for each project. The goal is to have the planning study to the Board of Trustees by the end of 2024-2025 academic year.
To garner feedback, representatives from Perkins&Will, like Jennifer Williams, set up posters around campus, including at Goodrich Coffee Bar and Driscoll Dining Hall, inviting students to offer ideas for new outdoors and athletic spaces and to provide feedback on what resonated with them.
As a part of the year-long study, Wellbeing at Williams — a program part of the wellness study — has hosted several workshops and focused sessions for students to share more in-depth and direct feedback on their vision for wellness spaces at the College. Amundsen noted that these events have been planned in coordination with the Office of Campus Life in order to reach as many students as possible.
Vicky Trujillo Balderas ’25, a member of the MRC committee, valued the chance to offer student opinions. “I am grateful for the opportunity to advocate for fellow students and student-athletes, emphasizing the significance of facilities that support the wellness goals of our community,” she wrote in an email to the Record.
“In the future, I hope our wellness programs will provide students with opportunities to disconnect from academic pressures and prioritize their well-being,” she added.
Dean of the Faculty Lara Shore-Sheppard serves on the executive steering committee of the programming study, which consists of faculty, administrators, staff, and one student — all intended to represent various constituencies. She emphasized the importance of physical accessibility when considering remodels. “Our facilities are not where they need to be, in the sense that they’re not inclusive — they have physical challenges,” she told the Record. Amundsen highlighted the entrance of the MRC as a feature she appreciates from the plans. “We’ve graded the walkway at a 4-percent grade, so right off the bat it’s a statement to say anyone of any ability can come into this building,” she added.
Shore-Sheppard added that the MRC is intended to bolster students’ mental and physical health. “It is essential that we focus on wellness, broadly speaking, of everyone, and I’ve always found that having welcoming, exciting spaces that make people want to come in and engage in physical and mental health activities is so important,” she said.
Miles said her department was excited to soon access “much needed space” for physical education, athletics, and other activities. “This is a very exciting time for athletics, recreation, and physical education at Williams, and I’m excited to see what the future holds,” she wrote to the Record.
“The MRC will be done in time for current students to benefit from it, [while] many of these other things will be longer term,” Shore-Sheppard said. “You’re really thinking about your future counterparts… The process will really benefit from a broadly inclusive group of stakeholders, so please give them feedback.”