Gimbel to be vastly renovated by end of summer

Parts of the first two floors of Gimbel Gymnasium will be transformed into a high-tech fitness center -- complete with new weight and aerobic equipment, video and audio systems and full air-conditioning -- by the end of the summer, administrators announced yesterday. Preliminary work on the $1.2 million project, which has already received a $500,000 donation from Penn parents Ellen and Howard Katz, will begin next week, officials said. Students, faculty and staff wishing to use the new Gimbel facilities will have to pay a $125-per-year fee, the same amount the University currently charges to use the fitness room in Hutchinson Gymnasium. The fee will allow access to both facilities. As part of the renovations, the existing sculpture park on Gimbel's first floor will be replaced with a 3,000-square-foot aerobic exercise facility. Four walls of clear glass will surround the large room, which will be equipped with treadmills, bikes, stairclimbers, EFX machines and ergometers. Video monitors will fill a portion of the walls, which will also be lined with audio equipment. The squash courts on the second floor of Gimbel will be demolished to make way for three interconnected workout spaces, which will combine a free weight area with selectorized equipment such as leg press, tricep and pushdown stations. The project will incorporate the facility's existing weight room, and Gimbel's swimming pool and three basketball courts will not be affected by the renovations. The building's existing skylights --Ewhich are currently covered by Gimbel's dropped ceilings -- will be opened up to provide natural lighting for the second floor. Both floors will be carpeted and equipped with card readers to ensure access control. University President Judith Rodin said that she was "incredibly excited" about the project, but stressed that it was simply a "short-term" solution to "some of the problems we all know exist." The plans were announced in tandem with the release of a 1 1/2 year-long study conducted by the marketing consulting firm Brailsford & Dunlavey, which called for 225,000 square feet of indoor recreation space to be added to the University's current facilities. Rodin explained that administrators are using the conceptual findings of the firm's report as the foundations for what will eventually be a long-term recreation and athletic facilities overhaul on both the west and the east sides of Penn's campus. But she noted that the University had not yet accepted the report's central findings --Ethe need to completely demolish and rebuild an expanded facility on Gimbel's current site, as well as to build a large new facility on the east end of campus. Indeed, Athletics Director Steve Bilsky said that "Gimbel is not a bad building," adding that it has "potential" to be to meet the needs of the campus community if renovated properly. Nevertheless, while Penn studies its options for developing new athletic training space on and beyond 33rd Street and long-term recreational space in and around Gimbel, there is an urgency for the renovations to the gym on the corner of 37th and Walnut streets, Rodin said. The Katz family recognized this need, Rodin noted, and their donation will allow the project to begin immediately. The family will be directly involved in fundraising for the rest of the money, she added. Whether or not Penn ultimately decides to entirely rebuild Gimbel, the facility is likely to see extensive future renovations, which will probably include the addition of an indoor track and juice bar. The swimming pool in Gimbel's eastern half will remain as is for the time being. Once the long-term construction is completed, however, glass walls along the pool will look onto the Inn at Penn, which is scheduled to be completed in the Sansom Common complex in late 1999. If Gimbel is demolished and a new facility built, its facade will be constructed to mirror Sansom Common's, Rodin said. And although administrators said they had not yet finalized plans for whether to demolish Gimbel or simply renovate it, Rodin said "we will come to an understanding to what we will do with the rest of Gimbel" within the next six to eight months. Penn expects the long-term Gimbel renovations or construction and the future facilities developments along the eastern part of campus -- construction that could perhaps replace the Class of 1923 Ice Rink or the Levy Tennis Pavilion, among other sites, with a second indoor track and additional basketball courts -- will add up to $80 to 100 million. No discussion has yet begun about the future of Hutchinson Gymnasium on 33rd Street, and although administrators expect Hutch usage to "fall off dramatically" after the Gimbel renovations are completed, that facility should remain available to students in the "short run," Rodin said. Rodin emphasized the importance of the new project, especially since the campus has clearly lacked sufficient fitness facilities for years. "I work out a lot," she added, "and I think it's really important, and so it has disappointed me that we haven't had the right kinds of facilities."

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