After years of construction of fitness facilities on the ISU campus, there may be an end in sight as Lied Recreation Athletic Facility is finishing their final steps of renovation.

The construction that took place at State Gym, Beyer Hall and Lied was part of a “recreation facilities expansion and renovation project,” said Robert Holzwarth, project manager at Iowa State.

Phase one of the project began with the addition of a glass wall separating the workout equipment from the running track, as well as air conditioning in Lied.

“The entire Lied building is not air-conditioned,” Holzwarth said. “We conditioned the weight and fitness area, the mezzanine, and the lobby area, as well as where the racquet courts are.”

They chose not to air condition the field and lower track in Lied in order to save money and energy. Holzwarth said this is why they used a mix of natural ventilation and air conditioning.

The project continued with a second phase, which was the exterior renovation of State Gym, including the addition of a new roof and some work on Beyer Hall.

Renovations of State Gym continued into the third phase of the project, focusing on indoor renovations and the skyway connecting State Gym and Beyer Hall.

With that work complete, Holzwarth said, “there was still some money left in the project so we used it to make further improvements to Lied.” With State Gym being new and improved, students were flooding to the west side of campus to work out, so they decided to even the playing field between the athletic facilities and improve Lied.

A lot of equipment on the third floor of the gym was replaced and areas of the gym were resurfaced. “The biggest part of it was getting the new flooring in, which we did over the [Winter] break period,” Holzwarth said.

Other additions included new lights over some areas of the gym, acoustic barriers set up for the group fitness area on the third floor and large fans to aid air circulation where air conditioning was not used.

Although the project at Lied was not focused on achieving LEED Certification, an award earned by State Gym due to environmental awareness, the renovations focused on saving money and energy.

Skylights were added to the roof to provide more natural light, and flood mitigation steps were put in place to better protect the gym and avoid future flood damage similar to that which the gym experienced in the 2010 floods.

The third floor of Lied opened for student use Monday at the beginning of the semester. However, Michael Giles, director of Recreation Services, said, “there will still need to be a few things that need to be done.” The facility is still waiting on some back-ordered equipment.