The Lied Recreation Athletic Center third floor exercise area, group fitness studio and track will be closed for remodeling starting Monday, Nov. 19. The remodel should be finished by the first day of spring semester, Jan. 14, 2013.

Lied Recreation third floor will be getting a complete makeover, including updated equipment and a remodel of the group fitness classroom.

“The third floor will change in appearance,” said Michael Giles, director of ISU Recreation Services. “It will get a complete look-over: new flooring, new lights, new paint, new ceiling. It will get that type of cosmetic face lift. We’ll be getting all brand-new equipment as well: all new cardiac equipment, all new weight equipment replacing the existing equipment, which is kind of coming toward the end of its life cycle anyways. What the primary users of Lied will see is that they have access to what our other users at State Gym have.”

Some of the necessary updates were noticed after the new equipment was brought in at State Gym.

“When we opened State Gym, and it had all this new and exciting stuff that really pulled away from Lied, and a lot of students got a little bit bored with the equipment [at Lied],” said Kara Herbert, fitness coordinator at ISU Recreation Services.

“Having TVs on their own personal equipment is definitely a big thing, and then, when you go [to Lied Recreation] and you have to watch a TV that’s clear across the room, that’s maybe not on a channel that you want to see, I think it definitely makes a big difference.”

Herbert is hoping that with the renovation to Lied Recreation, the group fitness studio will be better equipped for all the different group fitness classes that are offered through ISU Recreation Services.

“At this point, there are huge gaps under the floor and the ceiling. So, when you’re in a class, especially if it’s a calmer class like yoga, you can hear everything that’s going on outside. You can hear when someone drops weights right outside the room, and it’s very disturbing. Being able to close off this room and make it a little more sound-proof is something we are really looking forward to,” Herbert said.

Herbert also is hoping to have the lights in the fitness studio be on separate switches.

“For classes where you want the lights a little bit dimmer or a little bit brighter, they can adjust for that. I think it will make the setting a little bit nicer,” Herbert said.

The money for the Lied Recreation remodel is coming from the funds originally for the State Gym renovation project.

“When we came towards the end of the project of the complete renovation of State Gym, we had some contingency money left over from the overall project. So, we felt that the best use of that money would be to renovate the third floor of Lied. … Knowing that we had some money left over gave us the great opportunity to give Lied a renewal that we gave State Gym. It was an easy decision to get that done,” Giles said.

Giles sees this remodel as a chance to even the playing field between the newer equipment and facilities at State Gym with the offerings at Lied Recreation.

“What our hope is that now students don’t feel like ‘Well, I don’t want to go to Lied because it’s the old building. I would prefer to go to State Gym,’” Giles said. “Our intent is, and our hope is, that students at Iowa State will feel good one way or the other to go to either of the facilities so that maybe we can begin to reduce some of the demand that’s currently on State Gym and shift some of that demand back to Lied so that we cannot have an overload in one location verses the other.”

This remodel will also, hopefully, offer students living on the east side of campus a closer place to go for activities.

“Especially for the students who reside on that side of campus … they can just basically … walk right out their back door and go into a facility like [State Gym],” Giles said.

Students who are currently taking a group fitness class or are looking at taking one are encouraged to continue at State Gym until the remodel of Lied Recreation is complete.

“If there is a class that [students] enjoyed [at Lied], we’re most likely offering it at [State Gym] as well … hopefully, they can find something that will translate … and that they will enjoy just as much,” Herbert said.

Students are also encouraged to check out the new and improved Lied Recreation when it reopens the third floor in January.

“I’m really excited. I hope that everyone will check it out once the remodel is done because we’re getting all new equipment. We’re updating technology, and the group fitness room will be a lot nicer. Hopefully, students will want to go back to Lied and really enjoy it,” Herbert said.

The racquetball courts and first floor track will still be open during the remodel. Only the third floor facilities will be closed.