University of Iowa plans $6.3 million renovation of student-athlete learning center

IOWA CITY - The University of Iowa Athletic Department plans to spend $6.3 million to renovate the Gerdin Athletic Learning Center, opened in 2003, with a goal of making it a place where student athletes want to hang out.

The project, to be completed by 2018, includes additional group study rooms, a commons and cafe in the 28,000-square-foot building on Melrose Avenue, just west of the UI's Boyd Law Building, said Liz Tovar, UI associate athletics director of student-athlete academic services.

'We've been known as that place where freshmen go, or students not doing well in class go,” Tovar told the Presidential Committee on Athletics earlier this month. 'We want to be the destination.”

Austin Spiewak, 18, from Rolling Meadows, Illinois, was heading to the Gerdin Center on Nov. 11, the Friday before the Iowa-Michigan football game, to get in some of the eight hours a week required for freshman football players.

'I'd say it's pretty helpful,” he said of the learning center. 'It gives you a place to go (to study) other than your dorm room. You can actually get things done here.”

Danny Murphy, 19, a freshman wrestler from Fort Collins, Colorado, said he doesn't think the center needs much improving.

'Maybe some newer computers,” he said.

Murphy's one frustration is the center isn't open on Saturdays, which makes it a little hard to get in his required six hours a week.

The Iowa Board of Regents in February gave the UI permission to proceed with project planning and hire OPN Architects, of Cedar Rapids. The renovation, which includes finishing a third-floor shell, is to be paid for with athletics department gifts and earnings, the docket states.

'Student-athletes require more collaborative study rooms as opposed to the large study hall space that exists,” the UI reported.

The NCAA in 2014 approved legislation allowing colleges to provide unlimited food and snacks to athletes on top of their scholarship meal plan. The UI created 'refueling stations” in its strength room and the Gerdin Center, and had food delivered to training areas or team facilities.

The center's refueling station, tucked into a corner, is fine for grab-and-go foods but is not a place where student athletes choose to linger, Terry Noonan, director of athletic training services, said.

The renovation is to allow more space for refrigerators and food storage so there can be a greater variety of healthy foods tailored to athletes' pre-workout and post-workout needs, he said.

The Gerdin Center renovation also is to include a cafe, where student athletes can eat, study or socialize.

'This way, they'll be able to sit down and eat in more of a friendly atmosphere,” Noonan said.