Babson College has shared a few more details about the major recreation and athletics facility project that we wrote about last month, including that there will be a groundbreaking on Sept. 16 to coincide with the school’s homecoming weekend. Construction is slated for completion for the start of the fall 2019 semester.

Gilbane Building Company is providing pre-construction planning and construction management services for the project, while the architect for the project is Cambridge Seven Associates.

Babson isn’t saying how much the project is going to cost.

The 75,000 sq. ft. addition will nearly double the size of Babson’s athletics and recreation facilities, boosting the quality and quantity of gear and space available for varsity sports, recreational endeavors and other activities, from orientations to job fairs. To pave way for the expanded facility, the existing tennis courts are being relocated to a space behind the ice skating rink, and construction has already begun on that. The new courts will have bleacher seating and lights.

The Webster Center athletics and recreation facility will remain open, except next summer, when most of it will be closed for renovations.

 

While the Wellesley Sports Center planned for 900 Worcester St., has garnered plenty of attention across town, did you know Babson College has a huge recreational facility plan in the works as well? Construction has already started on a precursor to that complex in the form of fancy new tennis courts where a woodland area used to be behind the ice skating rink and Boston Sports Club, as seen above.

Babson’s eight new courts, with lighting and plenty of spectator seating, will replace the ones currently next to the Webster Athletic Center by the start of the school’s 2018 tennis season in the spring.

Webster, meanwhile, is set for a major renovation as part of what the school is calling the Babson Recreation and Athletics Center (BRAC) — “a truly transformative facility for years to come”. A new multipurpose facility that at 176,870 sq. ft. will be twice the size of Webster, is being designed to support varsity, intramural and recreational sports programs as well as other large scale campus events. Extensive space will be devoted to fitness equipment, yoga and other exercise studios, and sports medicine facilities.

Construction is slated to start this fall and finish by the fall of 2019, though Webster (built in 1989) will remain open throughout, except for next summer.

We haven’t come across a price tag for the project, but Babson naturally is hitting up alums to help pay the tab, with numerous naming opportunities available. Among those promoting the project will be Mike Lynch, the longtime Boston University athletics administrator Babson named as its Director of Athletics and Athletic Advancement earlier this year.

You can see artists’ depictions of the planned project here.

As for that 900 Worcester St. Wellesley Sports Center project? It’s slated to open next year after a groundbreaking later this year.

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