MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) -
After more than a year of construction, today is the grand opening of the new AUM Wellness Center. It is the first new building constructed on campus since 2003 and school leaders say it's a win for the community.
This state of the art facility is located directly inside the Taylor Road entrance. And while the outside is eye-catching and architecturally unique, it's what's on the inside that will wow you.
The 21 million dollar, 73,500 square foot facility features a rock climbing wall, a vortex pool, as well as a huge cardio and work out area with dozens of machines and a basketball gym.
Crews broke ground February of 2011 and the center will officially open its doors today.
School leaders say that students were involved in the designing process to make sure it had everything they wanted and expected in a wellness center.
They say they are excited to be able to offer this state of the art facility to their current and future students. It not only improves campus life for current students, it will also help recruit new students to the university.
AUM Wellness Director Louis Thornton says, "we're telling them, we're listening to you, here's what you wanted. Here it is, come out and use it. As far as potential students, this will be a great recruiting tool, because now it gives our students some campus life. They can come out here, we've got a lot of beautiful lounge areas, we've got all kinds of equipment in here and we have all types of activities and programs that they can come in here and do. We now have something on campus to keep our students here and to get other students wanting to come in here."
The Wellness Center is only open to the AUM Family: students, faculty, retired faculty and alumni. They also offer friends of alumni memberships, but wellness directors say they want students to feel as if this is their gym, so they won't offer membership to the general public.
The grand opening ceremony is set to begin at 11:30 a.m. today on the steps of the new wellness center.
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