Revamp to cost $2.5M

By Zac Estrada, News Staff

Aided by a contribution from the student recreation fee and a yet-to-be-named donor, Northeastern will give the Cabot Physical Education Center an interior makeover starting in April.

The $2.5 million project is still not completely funded, despite the contribution from the student recreation fee approved last fall by the Student Government Association (SGA), but university officials said they have no reservations about being able to raise another $200,000 by the projected start date.

“Part of our student rep fee is to expand our sports and student fitness, so the renovation will go to expanding club sports and student fitness,” Philomena Mantella, senior vice president of enrollment management and student affairs, said at an SGA meeting Jan. 24. at an SGA meeting.

Money raised from the $46 recreation activity fee, paid by students at the start of each semester, will go toward a $250,000 contribution towards the remodel, but only after the rest of the funding has been secured.

Mantella showed SGA renditions of the new Cabot Cage, which she said will benefit from a substantial technological upgrade aimed at improving the experience for student groups that use the facility.

“We understand resources are finite,” she said. “And we know, fundamentally, it’s coming from students, from tuition.”

While the exterior of the building will likely be untouched, the interior will be “basically gutted,” said SGA President Ryan Fox, one of the advocates for the decision to give student funds for the project.

Mantella described Cabot’s current condition as a “pretty tired area,” with some sports training equipment and offices for an athletics trainer. The new center, to be completed as early as September, will have new TV screens as well as a separate sports ticker.

The Cabot Center, part of a number of facilities under the wing of Northeastern’s Athletics Department, is primarily used for club and intramural sports. Fox said the motivation behind giving some of the recreation fee to the project was to ensure students would see a return on the investment.

“We’ve struggled in ways to support club sports,” he said. “This is a way to help.”

Northeastern Athletics Director Peter Roby said construction will start in April, and he anticipates the remaining $200,000 or so needed to cover costs will be raised by then through individual donors.

Some space in Matthews Arena will be set aside for programs displaced from Cabot. The remodel could be completed as early as September, but must be completed by October in order to clear Matthews Arena for the hockey team to start practice, Mantella said.

Artist renderings courtesy / Northeastern