Two new exercise facilities opening to GCU students, employees

By Cooper Nelson Published August 14, 2013

Story and Photos by Cooper Nelson
GCU News Bureau

Grand Canyon University has bulked up with the addition of two newly constructed fitness centers.

GCU will hold grand openings in the coming weeks for the two new gyms, located at the GCU Office Center, on 27^th Avenue and Camelback Road, and on the first floor of Chaparral Hall, in the northeastern sector of campus.

Racks of weights await exercisers at the new fitness facility at the 27th Avenue Office Center.

The grand opening for the 27^th Avenue location will be held at 9 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 19. The Chaparral grand opening will be the following Monday, Aug. 26.

The two new fitness centers join the 55,000-square-foot Student Recreation Center that opened in the fall of 2010. The trio of facilities will help regulate traffic with the influx of students, faculty and staff on campus at the end of the month. All three facilities are available to all GCU students and employees.

The new centers "will help distribute the amount of participants throughout the three fitness centers, enabling our students and staff to have optimum benefits at their desired workout location,” said Noemi Howard, GCU’s student recreation manager.

The Rec Center and 27^th Avenue locations will hold more than 40 classes a week, ranging from Zumba, Pilates and yoga to Insanity, boot camp and kickboxing. All three locations contain state-of-the-art equipment, including treadmills, elliptical machines, strength machines, free weights and flat-screen TVs.

Hours of operation for the two campus locations are from 6 a.m. to midnight on weekdays and from 8 a.m. to midnight on weekends. The 27^th Avenue center will be open daily from 6 a.m. to midnight.

An exercise science lab and convenience store accompany the 4,000-square-foot Chaparral fitness center, along with a second campus swimming pool outside. A GCU ID is required to access the Chaparral center. Students are encouraged to use the Chaparral location and staff encouraged to use the Rec Center in order to reduce overcrowding.

Treadmills and ellipticals stand at the ready inside Chaparral Hall, home of a second on-campus exercise facility.

Howard said the 27^th Avenue center was created for the convenience of the nearly 600 student and staff employees from eight departments that have relocated there.

“With the 27^th Avenue fitness center, we wanted to give back to the employees that helped get us to this point, so that they had a facility on site, since they are away from the main campus,” Howard said.

The 5,200-square-foot 27^th Avenue center is similar to the Rec Center and has a 1,728-square-foot Sanctuary II dance room plus men's and women’s locker rooms with lockers and showers. GCU students and employees will not have to show ID to access the unsupervised 27^th Avenue center, but they will be asked to sign in at the door if they do not work at that location.

Diedre Wilson, 30, a full-time employee at the 27^th Avenue offices, said the fitness center is a luxury that is both convenient and necessary, giving workers the opportunity to exercise before and after work and during lunch breaks. She said she plans to begin using the fitness center next week.

“Health and wellness is a big part of the 'millenniums,' and what better way to put that into action at work than with this facility,” she said.

“I really don’t need to go to (the main) campus, because everything I need is right here.”

Contact Cooper Nelson at 639.7511 or [email protected].