The University of Wisconsin will be breaking ground on the Near East Fields fall of 2023. This will be the fourth and final project of the Recreation & Wellbeing master plan, following completed projects at the Near West Fields, the Nicholas Recreation Center and the Bakke Recreation & Wellbeing Center.
The master plan was created in 2012 and approved with 87% of the student vote in 2014, according to RecWell’s website.
“We’re really excited to finally get to the end of this very large phase of our master plan, Senior Associate Director of Facility Planning and Operations at RecWell Sadat Khan said in an interview with The Badger Herald.
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The Near East Field renovation and reconstruction will begin in late fall of 2023 and will be complete by the fall of 2024 or spring of 2025, Khan said. The facilities will cost nearly $10 million.
Student Services Finance Committee representative to RecWell Kevin Jacobson said that the fields will be constructed with only donations and no student fees.
The fields themselves will be excavated and replaced with synthetic turf. The turf will be stronger than natural grass and have higher drainage rates, so the fields can be played on for longer throughout the year, Khan said.
The Near West Fields have decreased the number of cancellations by 40% with the renovations, and Khan hopes for the same numbers for the Near East Fields.
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Below the field will be a large drainage basin to collect water from 32 acres around the field. The water collected underneath the Near East Field, where the sediment will be taken out, will be cooled, so it has a minimal impact on the lake, according to Khan. The cooler water coming from the fields will also lower the amount of algae in the water by cooling the lake.
The turf will be cheaper to maintain, as staff do not need to repaint the lines or mow the grass constantly throughout the season, Khan said. The turf will need to be replaced every 10 years or so, but the price of maintenance will be able to justify the replacement costs.
The Near East Fields will also have a permanent building for bathrooms and ticketing, as well as updated LED lighting and scoreboards, according to Khan.
“Finishing Near East is going to be the fourth and final project of the master plan that again, we started back in 2014,” Khan said. “We made a lot of promises to students at that time it was a very ambitious plan, and now we’re finally seeing all that hard work kinda come to fruition and making these promises a reality.”
Editor’s Note: This article was updated to accurately reflect that Near East Field renovation and reconstruction will cost nearly $10 million.
