New Student Fitness Center Breaks Ground on Thursday at UDM

DETROIT, Sept. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- University of Detroit Mercy will break ground for a new 40,000-square-foot Student Fitness Center on the McNichols Campus on Thursday, September 22, 2011, at 1 p.m. The Center will feature a two-court gymnasium for recreation and intramural sports such as basketball, volleyball, badminton and floor hockey; an elevated three-lane track; a group exercise room; men's and women's lockers rooms and restrooms; a lobby and student lounge and "smoothie" bar.

Located on the east side of the Engineering Building, The Fitness Center will offer easy access and will echo the collegiate Spanish architectural themes as found on the University's other buildings. The Center will face the Kassab Mall, in close proximity to the University's new tennis complex and pavilion, practice fields, residence halls and historic Calihan Hall. The Student Fitness Center is expected to open next fall.

Following the event, the University will host a picnic/student organization fair with games around the Fisher Fountain at 1:30 for the entire University community to celebrate the start of the fall term.

The University of Detroit Mercy is Michigan's largest private Catholic University, with approximately 100 academic majors and programs. Sponsored by the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, the University has campuses located in downtown and northwest Detroit.

UDM is one of 28 Jesuit colleges and universities and the largest of 18 Mercy institutions of higher education in the United States. For the eighth consecutive year, University of Detroit Mercy is listed in the top tier of Midwestern Regional Universities in the 2011 edition of the U.S. News and World Report's "America's Best Colleges."

ALL MEDIA ARE INVITED TO ATTEND THE GROUND BREAKING and UDM PICNIC.

CONTACT: Gary D. Lichtman
Media Relations Director
313-993-1254

SOURCE University of Detroit Mercy