By Jacqueline Maxwell
A new center at Chandler-Gilbert Community College will offer students an athletic facility and student services building under one roof.
The Coyote Center, funded by a combination of bond sales approved by Arizona voters in November 2004 and remodeling funds, will serve as the new “front door” to the college, said Linda Luhan, president of the school.
The groundbreaking of the center at the Pecos campus on March 22 marked the beginning of the 14-month, $30.8 million project, set to finish by the fall semester of 2014.
The bond sales approved by voters in 2004 totaled $951 million, and have funded projects at other Maricopa community colleges, including the remodeling of the performing arts center at both Mesa Community College and various other projects, as stated in last year’s district capital planning report.
The hopes for an athletic facility have long been on the minds of CGCC presidents and the athletic department, said Luhan. Ever since CGCC’s founding, there has been a need for a facility that houses locker rooms, a gym and training equipment, Luhan said.
The Coyote Center will serve not just student athletes, but also the general student population with a new student services center, Luhan said.
“Students will now have a one-stop enrollment service center,” Luhan said. “They won’t have to stand in one line after another.”
The new 68,000-square-foot facility will also include the college’s first gym, which will provide room for 1,000 to 1,200 people, and can be used for indoor sporting events and co-curricular programming, Luhan said.
CGCC currently has nine sports that will be able to use the new center for training and sporting events, ranging from golf to baseball.
“It will be a game-changer for basketball,” said Edward Yeager, the college’s athletics director.
All of the coaches will now have individual offices for the first time in the college’s history, he said.
The new locker rooms also will be a plus for athletes because of their close proximity to the sports fields, he explained.
This will be the first community college in Maricopa County with a gym at the front of the school campus, Yeager said.
The center will also have rooms that will be used for fitness classes as well as training for student athletes, Luhan said.
The student services buildings, currently located on the south side of the Pecos campus, have been cramped with financial aid offices and enrollment services due to the recent student population growth, Luhan said. The new facility will alleviate the crowded space, she said.
Once the center is completed, students will be able to walk in the doors and receive more specialized help through enrollment services and the financial aid office, Luhan said.
Input for the design of the Coyote Center has come from faculty, athletics, technology and health departments for the benefit of the students, Luhan said.
“One of the visions that we go by here at Chandler-Gilbert Community College is that every student succeeds, and this center is really going to facilitate the success of all of the students,” said Cathy Chlarson, the communications director of the school.
“There’s not a student who won’t be touched by this center,” Chlarson said.