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The Kachel Gymnasium will look quite different when classes resume after spring break.
That’s because next Monday begins the demolition and disposal of the 44-year-old hardwood floor.
“It’s much needed,” athletic director Paul Plinske said. “We haven’t had any injuries, but we have a lot of sore athletes. When the floor is ready, it’s going to be state-of-the-art. It will really be first class.”
Construction, which will be done by Jason Thomas Flooring of Waukesha, Wis., is scheduled to be finished June 5, meaning there will be no more activities the rest of the semester in Gym 1.
The construction costs approximately $205,000. The state covered 85 percent of it while students, through segregated fees, have to pay 15 percent of the total cost, approximately $30,000-40,000.
Plinske said since the facility is used for classes it is a state-funded project.
However, Plinske wasn’t too sure when it would get done – as it was rejected in 2009.
“There’s some concern that the state economy was going to impact the amount of money tavailable to institutions” Plinske said. “We were fortunate enough to get in line soon enough so that we could get the funding.”
While the floor won’t look substantially different, Gary Harms, recreation sports and facilities director, said the project is long overdue.
“We’ve maintained it,” Harms said. “But it will [now] be built to today’s standards. This new floor will have a lot of extra cushion to it.”
Harms explained the wood is so thin that it can’t be resurfaced anymore and floors are usually replaced after 30 years. The new floor will also be raised by two inches.
The entire gym will be off limits while construction takes place, but Harms said there should be only minor disruptions.
“The first two weeks will be the loudest part of the project,” Harms said. “We thought the timing of it was perfect.”
Harms said the main reason to replace the floor now is because all the indoor intramurals are finished and the men’s and women’s basketball seasons are complete.
This will be the latest of many facility upgrades that have taken place at UW-Whitewater in recent years.
Prucha Field and the van Steenderen softball complex just received facelifts while the outdoor track and field complex was remodeled two years ago.
Plinske said replacing the floor in Kachel Fieldhouse is the next project scheduled to begin in the summer of 2011.
“Our biggest goal [is] to help our student-athletes have a first-class environment and that comes by way of our facilities,” Plinske said. “The gym has been a long time waiting.”
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