BUILDING BLOCKS: Willmore Center

Listen to this article

Project name: Willmore Athletics, Health and Wellness Center

Address: Union and West Thorne streets, Ripon

Cost: $22 million

Size: The project includes a new 64,200-square-foot fieldhouse and 100,000 square feet of new or renovated space.

Start date: Design work began fall 2015, and construction began June 2016

Completion date: Officials held a grand opening Saturday.

Owner: Ripon College

General contractor: The Boldt Co., Appleton

Lead architect: Kahler Slater, Milwaukee

Engineers: J.F. Ahern Co., Fond du Lac, mechanical, plumbing and fire-protection engineering; Faith Technologies, Pewaukee, electrical engineering and data and information-technology consulting; and GRAEF, Milwaukee, civil and structural engineering.

Significance to the region: The Willmore Center serves as the main health and wellness center on Ripon’s campus, houses the college’s athletic and exercise-science departments and is home of several of its athletic teams. The new fieldhouse includes four performance courts that can be used for basketball, volleyball and tennis, as well as a 200-meter NCAA-regulation indoor track and areas for track-and-field events. The fitness center more than doubled in size and the athletic-training center offers training and physical therapy for student-athletes. Other building enhancements include new classrooms, updated locker rooms, modernized offices for coaching and intramural staff and a renovated Doc Weiske ’50 Memorial Gymnasium, which is used by the Red Hawks basketball and volleyball teams.