A future student activity and recreation center, an aquatic center and a multi-use stadium are a step closer to reality with selection of their construction sites. Campus officials say the three facilities will be built, with the help of student fees, in two locations along La Rue Road. The $45 million student activity and recreation center will be located north of Recreation Hall in what is currently an intramural athletic field. Tom Compton, executive director of Memorial Unions and Campus Recreation, said the new center will be connected either by a bridge or built as an addition to the 23-year-old Rec Hall. The $5 million aquatic center and $20 million stadium are planned for the southwest corner of Hutchison Drive and La Rue Road, on a triangle of undeveloped land between Recreation Pool and the Health Science Complex. Both sites were approved recently by a committee of top campus officials, including Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Robert Grey, Vice Chancellor for Administration Janet Hamilton, Associate Provost Richard Meisinger and Facilities Services Director Darrell Ralls. The campus Office of Architects and Engineers has hired a project manager to oversee planning and construction of the facilities-Alex Achimore, who worked for the Honolulu redevelopment authority before starting here in December. In addition, the campus is getting the help of two international design firms in programming and space planning for the facilities. Working on the activity center is Cannon and Associates, which has designed recreational centers at UC San Diego, UC Irvine, Arizona State University and other campuses. Ellerbe Beckett-whose past projects include the Portland Trailblazers' Rose Garden arena, the Indiana Pacers Conseco Fieldhouse and the Washington State University football/soccer stadium-is consultant for the stadium and aquatic center. The $45 million activity and recreation center is beginning to take shape-in concept at least-as a committee of students, staff members and architects develop a "detailed project program." Compton said the activity and recreation center will be around 140,000 square feet. Included inside will be: * Courts for basketball, volleyball, squash and badminton, * An elevated jogging track, * Three aerobics and fitness studios, * A multi-activity court with rounded corners and hard surfaces that could be used for indoor soccer and floor hockey, * A weight room measuring at least 12,000 square feet, * Student activity space such as meeting rooms, student organization office space, a multipurpose ball room, lounges and food service, and * Locker rooms and instrument storage space for the Cal Aggie Marching Band-Uh. Space plans for the activity and recreation center will be finished in March or April and submitted to UC regents for approval in May, Compton said. The campus is interviewing architectural firms this month to develop designs for the center. Construction is slated to begin in February 2002, with the center opening during the 2003-2004 academic year. A planning committee of three students, three staff members, two Cannon architects and project manager Achimore recently visited recreational facilities at six campuses in three states. The facilities, all built within the last decade, included ones at UC Irvine, UC San Diego, Arizona State University, University of Arizona, University of Texas, Austin, and Texas A & M University. "We saw some things at each of the places that will help us in the future," Compton said. For example, planning committee members were impressed by the airiness and natural lighting of the UC Irvine gym. "You can stand in one place and see what's going on everywhere," he said. The activity and recreation center, aquatic center and stadium are among $65 million in campus improvements to be financed by a student-fee increase passed by students a year ago. Students voted overwhelming in February 1999 to increase their fees by $126 a quarter over the next five years to pay for the projects. In what student leaders and campus administrators say is a first in the UC system, the measure also provides at least $1.5 million a year in financial aid to offset the fee increase for about 5,000 students beginning in 2003-4. Work on the aquatic center is scheduled to begin in September 2001, with the 50-meter outdoor pool opening in 2002-3. The aquatic center will be financed by a combination of student fees and private donations. Geology lecturer Rand Schaal and his father, Ted, have given $1 million for the aquatic center's construction. Bob Franks, associate vice chancellor for student affairs, said the campus is negotiating with the city about possibly sharing construction and operating costs. "We certainly want to be in a partnership with them on that," he said. "I believe that the city will agree that it's in the interest of its constituents." Construction of the stadium will depend on private donations. Student fees will pay about two-thirds of the approximately $20 million costs. Athletic Director Greg Warzecka said planning has begun to find ways to raise the rest of the money.