Ole Miss Plans for New Fitness Facility

The University of Mississippi’s Campus Recreational Department recently announced its plans to remodel Whirlpool Warehouse into a new fitness and recreation facility.

For years, Ole Miss has been looking for a way to keep up with the rapidly increasing student body. A new gym is one of the things that the university has been in need of for a while.

Darian White, a regular at the Turner Center has noticed the overcrowding getting increasingly worse. “There have been times where I’ve come to the gym, and have had to wait half an hour to use a treadmill,” White said. “It’s getting to a point where using the campus fitness center is more of a hassle than anything else.”

In response to this growing issue, the university plans to have the fitness center, located on South Campus near Whirlpool Trails, completed in the fall of 2018.

“We are hopeful that construction will begin at the end of 2016 or early 2017,” Director of Campus Recreation, Peter Tulchinsky said.

The new facility will come equipped with three group fitness studios, two basketball courts, a multi-activity court, rock climbing wall, indoor track, classroom with a demonstration kitchen, and functional training areas, all encompassed in 25,000 square feet of fitness space.

Currently, the Turner Center has only 9,000 square feet of fitness space, making the new building almost three times larger in size.

Along with the increased space, the new building will also house updated equipment and have a more modern appearance.

“I’m really excited about the new building,” group fitness instructor McKenzie Cavanaugh said. “I think that it will be a great asset to the campus, and encourage more students to workout.”

The Turner Center is planning to continue its current operations after the new facility is opened.

Tulchinsky plans for the new project cost about $32 million. It is being funded through state appropriations allocated by IHL.

As of now, the new fitness center will be called the South Campus Recreation Facility, but this is likely to change if there is a named donation for the facility.

With the new building being designed, parking has been a main concern for both designers and students.

Plans call for approximately 700 parking spots at the facility. The parking spots will be a combination of Faculty/ Staff and Park-N-Ride, and will all require the purchase of a parking permit. There will also be bus services to and from campus.

“Several (bus) routes will connect with this location and we will add one specifically to connect the facility to the Kennon Bus Hub,” Director of Parking and Transportation, Mike Harris said.

With news spreading about the new addition, many students, including incoming freshman are excited about using the new facility.

“When I heard that Ole Miss was getting an additional fitness facility, I got really excited.” Katelyn Ishee, an incoming freshman from Pass Christian, Miss. said.

“I’ve visited a lot of schools in the SEC, and all have an impressive amount of workout centers on their campuses. Now, Ole Miss will be able to offer as much as bigger schools like LSU and Alabama.”

Assistant Director of Campus Recreation, Shannon Richardson is excited for the new facility to open as well.

“I think that this addition will really give students the encouragement to workout, and live a more active lifestyle. I look forward to seeing the increase in student involvement.” Richardson said.