Gimbel Gym to see major renovations

Newton South High School '96 Newton, Mass. 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 in late April. Students wishing to use the new Gimbel facilities will have to pay a $125-per-year fee -- $190 for faculty and staff -- 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 -- which 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. In announcing the plans for the renovated facility, 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." Students' reactions to the renovation plans were positive, although some questioned the need to charge a user fee for access of the facility. The plans were announced in tandem with the release of a 1 1/2 year-long study conducted by the Washington, D.C.-based 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. The report recommends demolishing and rebuilding Gimbel Gymnasium on the west side of campus -- doubling its size to 175,000 square feet -- and tearing down either or both the Levy Tennis Pavilion and Class of 1923 Ice Rink on the campus' east end to make way for a new indoor track and an "east building" to house team-oriented activities. Penn expects the long-term Gimbel renovations or construction and the future facilities developments along the eastern part of campus to add up to $80 to $100 million. Before making the recommendations, the firm used focus groups and e-mail surveys to solicit student, faculty and staff input on Penn's current recreation facilities and prospects for the future. While officials said they generally agreed with the report's conceptual findings, they stressed that they had not definitively accepted them. Additionally, officials noted that the recommendations were not intended to address economic or structural feasibility. Rodin said that 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 to the renovations to the gym on the corner of 37th and Walnut streets. 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. 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 on to 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, adding that officials will "come to an understanding to what we will do with the rest of Gimbel" within the next six to eight months.

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