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BC announces $200-million athletics upgrade, including new rec center

Proposed Boston College recreation center

Architect's rendering of new rec center.

Boston College announced today it hopes to break ground on a 240,000-square-foot recreational center on St. Thomas More Drive this summer, along with new baseball, softball and general intramural sportsball fields on campus.

The BRA approved the new facilities in 2009; the college still needs to get some final permits before construction can begin. In addition, the college will file plans with the BRA for construction of a new athletics field house next to Alumni Stadium.

BC estimates construction of the new rec center will take two years.

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Comments

Have to possibility of going winless in conference play, something that has not happened since WW2 for major conference d1 teams.

Surprised Bates hasn't been fired yet.

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sportsball game. Can't wait!

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Disappointed in the lack of facilities to meet the demands of student recreation. They left out: a velodrome, archery bales, fencing arena, rifle range, equestrian track, trap field, Foosball court, rock climbing walls, dojo, roller derby rink, pugil stick arena, billiards, bowling, yoga/zooma/pilates studio, dodgeball court, air hockey arena, pong, handball court, tennis courts, bachi field, polo pitch, jousting pitch, and a world class dart gallery.

HOW WILL STUDENTS EVER COPE WITH SUBSTANDARD FACILITIES!

WILL SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!

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a Quidditch Pitch

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Was in the car last night and heard BC was down 26-2. Maybe the Big East would be better for them than the ACC.

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I believe was what it got to.

They had to make the move out of the Big East though, it was crumbling and teams were leaving.

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Meanwhile the new look basketball-first Big East has two of the top 5 men's teams in the country, including #1 Villanova, and two other Big East teams have been ranked in the top 10 this year. But BC had to chase its football money, so here they are getting walloped unmercifully by whoever shows up. Lucky for them they didn't end up with UConn in the American whatever-it's-called.

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And yes, they probably would have been left out with the UConns of the world. I also don't think they would have fared better in the Big East (which doesn't have football)

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That will definitely help their students get those jobs after graduating with that degree they're paying $60,000 a year for.

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The recreational center, a 240,000 square-foot facility that will replace the Flynn Recreation Complex and be located at the site of Edmonds Hall on Thomas More Drive, will benefit all BC students, faculty and staff.

The Flynn Rec Complex (Plex) is in dire need of replacement. It's the general use fitness facility for all students and staff. It's not for the mens football and basketball teams. It leaks, lacks AC, and is about on par with a gold's gym that opened in 1980. Second, it will replace the aging Edmonds residence hall which has certainly seen better days. None of these plans are new of course and were announced years ago as part of their master rebuilding plan to upgrade many facilities around campus.

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"we hate people with money"

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"The recreational center, a 240,000 square-foot facility that will replace the Flynn Recreation Complex and be located at the site of Edmonds Hall on Thomas More Drive" -- meaning it will be replacing Edmonds Hall, a high-rise dorm? If so, how are they getting away with eliminating 205 living units housing 792 students?

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Edmonds was disgusting when I went there 10 years ago it needs to come down. They're building new dorms on Comm Ave

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...replace it with an equal amount of on-campus housing. The new 2150 Commonwealth Avenue housing features "60 six-person and 16 four-person apartments", which comes out to 424 students, a net loss of 368 by my math. I thought the master plan was supposed to get more students into ON-CAMPUS housing and free-up OFF-CAMPUS apartments for non-students.

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I believe they are also in the midst of renovating 2000 Comm Ave to serve as additional "on campus" housing. BC purchased the building a few years ago.

IIRC, utilizing 2000 Comm Ave in this way is an interim arrangement which will be rectified once new housing is built on the footprint occupied by the Plex and Mods right now.

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When I was there (class of '83) they were already bordering on decrepit, but students screamed bloody murder every time there was talk about tearing them down. There was no higher aspiration among the student body than to score a high enough lottery number -- and roommates similarly blessed -- to snag a mod. Alas, the best I could do was junior and senior years in Edmonds, aka "The Rezzies"; sophomore year in what was then called the New Dorm until they named it Walsh Hall; and freshman year busing in from Newton campus every day. But at least back then they guaranteed four years of on-campus housing, so I didn't have to deal with the real world.

Anyway, I shudder to think how much money they must have pumped into the mods over the years just to keep them livable.

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The master plan that they presented to the community a few years ago (which included tearing down Edmonds) included enough new dorm construction such that they would have a net gain of several hundred. I don't remember the figures, but they said it would be enough to house all their students other than commuters or those studying abroad.

Some in the community were skeptical that it would really be enough, but at the very least it is a net gain in capacity.

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If one looks at BC's full construction plans, the net is +1,050 on campus beds. The "housing need" is currently 1,430 beds, so they will then need 380 additional beds before everyone is on campus.

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old run down temp housing in from the 70s taking up big footprint in center of campus. I keep seeing BU building huge dorms but BC is going to make some new softball fields?

they're probably lying anyway, it is BC.

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