The new Intercollegiate Athletics (ICA) Building, which has been under construction for the past year and a half, will be the new home for all UCSB intercollegiate teams and coach’s offices.

The ICA Building, located next to Robertson Gym, is scheduled to open January 2005, after 20 months of construction. The 28,000 square-ft. building will include office suites for each intercollegiate team, a training room, a fully staffed weight room, a 100-seat auditorium and a tutorial room open to all of UCSB’s 500 student athletes, Director of Capital Development Martha Levy said. The project has a budget of $15 million, paid for by a $34.03 per-quarter per-student lock-in fee, she said. The lock-in fee has been applied since Fall Quarter 2003.

Project Manager Joe Van Thyne said the completion of the ICA Building will mark the first time all campus teams will be housed under one roof.

“Right now, coaches have been dispersed throughout campus in different areas,” Van Thyne said.

The Office of Budget and Planning began work on the ICA Building project in 1999, after it was announced that its student lock-in fee referendum would be placed on the spring 2000 election ballot, Levy said. The office hired architects to conduct preliminary studies and present students with cost estimates, said Cannon Dworsky, the architect of the project. Levy said Dworsky was chosen by a committee of students, faculty and staff in 2000 to design the project.

Athletic teams currently train in five different locations, Levy said. The 21 varsity sports teams use Harder Stadium, the Old Gym, trailers next to the Old Gym, trailers formerly at the building site of the ICA Building and Robertson Gym, which offers 9,000 square ft. of available space for practice. The Rec Cen does not offer space in which sport teams may practice, Levy said.

Men’s basketball Assistant Coach Mark Amaral said the location of the new building is beneficial for the entire athletics department.

“It gives student athletes and the department a sense of ownership, where we’re centrally located now,” he said.

Multiple teams have shared office space in years past, women’s basketball Head Coach Mark French said. The women’s basketball team has shared a trailer with both the softball and former women’s gymnastics teams for the past 10 to 12 years, he said.

Levy said the current conditions are inadequate for teams to function effectively. They are not well- ventilated, do not include handicap accessibility and are widely dispersed.

Another purpose of the ICA Building is to raise the image and spirits of campus teams, Levy said.

“It’s a huge morale booster for all of the athletes and coaches,” she said. “It will help with recruitment of student athletes, as well as coaches and assistant coaches.”

UCSB must compete with other Division I schools – who have larger facilities – for the same athletes and coaches, Levy said.

Potential recruits will be impressed by the improved ICA facilities, French said.

“This is what a top 25 women’s basketball office should look like,” French said. “Young 17- and 18-year-olds will see the office in the same light as the schools in competition.”

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