The Cal Poly Recreation Center is scheduled to close June 13, leaving many students with no place to work out.
Cal Poly students will pay for Rec Center fees, but will not be allowed to use the gym until Winter 2012.
“It’s unfortunate that there will be more than a full quarter where the gym is out of use, especially since it’s so great that so many students want to be healthy and use it,” agricultural science senior Elizabeth Layton said. “I’ll either run outside more or use a different gym.”
The Rec Center has been open for student-use for a little more than a year of construction, but with limited equipment and space.
Sam Huskins, a graphic communication junior, said the closure will have a big effect on him because he uses the Rec Center frequently.
“It’s an inconvenience because now I need to pay for a gym membership over summer and fall while still paying my ASI fees,” Huskins said. “I will be interested to see if they actually get it done by winter. We all know how construction goes.”
Although the prospective plans for the Rec Center expansion said the gym will open during winter quarter, it is not guaranteed by the university.
Many students said the closure of the Rec Center won’t affect them. Since construction began and the gym was minimized, they have gone elsewhere to workout. Alyssa Beltran, an English senior, said she got tired waiting for machines and the crowds.
“I would rather pay to go somewhere else, and get my money’s worth,” Beltran said.
Daren Connor, assistant director for programs of Associated Students Inc. (ASI), said over time they have seen less students going to the Rec Center for reasons similar to Beltran’s.
“It’s bound to happen; if we don’t have enough room for them in our gym, they most likely would go somewhere else,” Connor said.
Even though the construction has been taking place for more than a year, Connor said it cannot be completed without closing the Rec Center completely for a short amount of time.
Since the Rec Center began construction, students have attended other local gyms, and with the word of the Rec Center closing, they have had even more interest.
ClUb 24,located on Foothill Blvd., just down the street from campus, said it has seen a wide variety of interest from Cal Poly students for summer and fall. Britney Scofield, a ClUb 24 employee, said it expects numbers to increase drastically once the Rec Center closes, because it is the closest gym to campus and open 24-hours a day.
“We haven’t worked out the specific details yet, but we will definitely be offering a special deal to Cal Poly students wanting to attend our gym,” Scofield said.
Another local gym known to be Cal Poly friendly is the SLO Athletic Club, formerly known as Gold’s Gym, located on Osos Street in downtown San Luis Obispo. Mike Turner, one of the managers, said the gym received many new members when the Rec Center first downsized, and have stayed constant ever since.
“We expect to have a lot more students come starting this summer, and we plan to offer the best package out there,” Turner said.
Layton said since the talk of the Rec Center closing began, people started to try and find other good deals around town for gyms.
“Gym memberships may be expensive, but Poly construction is not really leaving much of a choice,” Layton said.