The ongoing construction at Rec Hall both to renovate and to expand the building's facilities has now moved indoors, leaving many Penn State students outside.

The $16.3 million project includes a 20,000-square-foot fitness center addition facing west on North Atherton Street and a 28,500-square-foot remodeling of the old fitness area in the south part of Rec Hall to improve the wrestling area.

Construction began in April 2005, with most of the work focusing on the addition. The construction moved indoors during spring break, and this week, students were unable to access the general fitness area. The equipment should be ready for students to use by the beginning of fall semester.

"Up until now, there has been minimal disruption to the functions inside the building because we were mostly dealing with the new addition," Office of Physical Plant spokesman Paul Ruskin said.

The indoor construction had been put on hold until the wrestling team completed its season, and now the project's focus has shifted to inside the building following the team's departure for the NCAA tournament this week, he said.

The fitness center was the last place on campus where students could work out without needing a gym membership.

For Chris Haggerty (junior-bioengineering), who lives off campus and does not have a gym membership, the closing of the center comes as quite a disappointment. "It was frustrating to show up on Monday and find the lights out and the sign on the door," he said.

Haggerty said he was unaware of the closings before they happened and will now have to purchase a full-semester gym membership despite using it for only the remaining portion of the year.

However, Chip Harrison, Penn State head strength and conditioning coach, said there were numerous notices informing students of the impending closure of the fitness center, which became more specific as the date approached, citing spring break as the transition for construction on the area.

Haggerty was accompanied on Monday by his roommate, Gaelan Ritter (junior-premedicine), who was a regular at Rec Hall, despite having a membership to the other, larger facilities on campus.

Harrison said a couple hundred people used the fitness center each day -- many of whom had memberships to other facilities but preferred Rec Hall over the crowds at the White Building or the Intramural Building.

"There's certainly a number of people who will be impacted by this, but it shouldn't be a surprise," Harrison said. "We did the best we could to keep everybody informed as to what was going on."

Office of Physical Plant Project Manager Marv Bevan said the closing of the fitness center could cause some overcrowding at the other facilities for the remainder of the semester. However, he added, following the completion of the brand-new, glass-enclosed addition, the school will be better prepared to meet the student demand.

"It's a temporary inconvenience for long-term gain," he said.