Students looking forward to an early-semester dip in the White Building pool will have to wait a few more weeks as contractors put the finishing touches on the new MBNA Student Recreation Center.

The construction fence came down last week and the $9 million addition is complete, but the entire complex will not be available for public use until late January, said Dale Roth, director of recreation services and club sports.

In the meantime, sections of the annex will be opened in phases.

The men's and women's gymnastics teams have been practicing in the second floor of the new building since the end of last semester, and the adjacent dance and combative sports studios are also ready.

The downstairs fitness center, however, remains vacant this week, awaiting the installation of exercise equipment.

Next Monday, workers hope to run water into the pool and spa for the first time, and soon after the facilities will be ready to go.

Students can then gain access to the center with the $10 semester fitness pass, which is also accepted at the McCoy Natatorium pools and Fitness Loft.

Outside, the grounds surrounding the new recreation center are still a work in progress, said Paul Ruskin, Office of Physical Plant spokesman. The topsoil is frozen, and can't be properly landscaped until the weather warms up later in the spring.

"We'll clean things up as best as we can," Ruskin said. "It'll look better as time goes on."

Across campus, another expansion project continues behind Hammond Building.

When completed, the $8.5 million Hintz Family Alumni Center will add 20,000 square feet to University House and provide the Alumni Association with new offices and conference rooms.

The building is about 75 percent complete and should be done by late February or early March, Ruskin said.

The association staff hopes to begin taking occupancy by late March in time for a dedication tentatively set for Blue-White weekend in April, said Barbara Schroeder, public relations specialist for the association.

While the center has been going up, most of the staff has been operating out of a temporary location on North Science Park Road.

The Lion Ambassadors, the student corps of the Alumni Association, will join the rest of the group, moving from their office in Old Main to a new space in the alumni center.

The centerpiece of the new facility will be a high-ceilinged great room called Council Hall, with a large video screen, two-story-tall windows, and an adjacent catering kitchen.

"It's going to be phenomenal . . . first class, all the way," Ruskin said of the center and its surroundings. "Even the curbs are being made of granite . . . [instead] of concrete or asphalt."

The facades of both new additions have been designed to appear more seamless with the existing structures.

The recreation center has the same brick walls, copper fittings and pale yellow window frames visible on the rest of the White Building and on nearby Atherton Hall.

The alumni center features a line of gabled bay windows that mimic the traditional look of the former Penn State president's residence.

Both buildings will carry the names of the major donors for each project.

The family of Edward Hintz, vice-chairman of the Penn State Board of Trustees and a 1959 graduate, contributed about half of the total cost for the alumni center, and the recreation center is named in honor of contributions from the credit card company MBNA America Bank N.A.

Floor plans and artist renderings of the Hintz Family Alumni Center are available online (www.alumni.psu.edu/council2/).