The University of Wisconsin RecWell announced Feb. 21 that the new Bakke Recreation and Wellbeing Center will open April 24, barring any scheduling changes. Along with the opening of the Bakke, the Shell will be closing, with April 19 being the last day to use the facility.
The Bakke will be at the location of the previous Natatorium, and it will feature a pool, basketball courts, an ice rink, an indoor jogging track and multipurpose and wellness spaces.
Despite these many features, many students are not pleased that the Shell is closing down.
“I feel upset because it’s my favorite place on campus to work out,” UW junior Luke McCullough said. “And after April, [I] won’t be able to work out there anymore which makes me disappointed.”
UW sophomore Brenden Dieter is also frustrated that the Shell is closing because Dieter is a member of the track club and enjoys using the indoor track.
According to Dieter, the Shell is currently the only indoor track facility on campus. Dieter also pointed out that the UW track and field team uses the Shell, so he is confused about where they will practice in the winter.
Easton Bertoni, a sophomore at UW, is not excited about the Bakke replacing the Shell as he is worried it will get too crowded.
“I go to the Shell because no one else does,” Bertoni said. “The problem is everyone’s gonna go to the Bakke.”
RecWell Senior Associate Director of Facility Planning and Operations, Sadat Khan said the Shell was never part of the master plan. In the 2014 referendum, they planned to work on the Near West Fields, the Nicholas Recreation Center, the Bakke and the Near East Fields, which are in the planning stages.
Khan said the track team will still be able to use the Shell because ownership of the Shell is transferring over to UW Athletics, so they will be able to decide what to do with the space. A few students have heard rumors that UW Athletics will tear down the Shell to use it for something else, but Khan said that is not under the control of RecWell.
Khan said they had two students on the design team for the Bakke because they wanted to make sure the new gym had everything the students needed.
“We heard the student voice about the amenities at the Shell,” Khan said. “We did the best we could to move over the amenities at the Shell to have those at Bakke.”
Bakke will include all the fitness features of the Shell, plus even more, Khan said. The only thing they left out of Bakke is a full indoor track because it is not a recreational amenity, but Bakke will still have a small jogging track.
