(01-18-2024 04:55 PM)Dukes_Royals Wrote:  Maybe JMU could through the city some money for an overhaul of Westover since that would put it still close to campus (a few blocks from Memorial) and is central for the rest of the city instead of the Sentara park campus which is in a corner of the city.

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Not going to happen.

If JMU replaces Savage Natatorium it will be built on university owned and controlled land, and designed from the ground-up as a state of the art pool and diving facility. That much I’m confident in sharing.

Incorporating a new swimming/diving facility as part of the Sentara Park sports complex would take advantage of existing parking and other infrastructure, but as I shared earlier, I can’t confirm that’s what is being planned.

I can also confidently state that JMU has moved past the era of half-assed construction projects, by which I mean to suggest the 30 years of Carrier’s “git it done” approach to campus development.

I loved Ron (as most of us do), and sincerely believe he was a genius. Working closely with Carrier while he was Prez there can be little doubt that his approach to building was absolutely the only way to address the needs of JMU as it grew quickly in the late 70s-90s. His method of campus development (if you can call it a “method”) also created many flawed buildings. The tenure of LR as Prez introduced a much needed structure to JMU’s planning process to campus construction, and Alger has accelerated and expanded upon that approach.

JMU is now defined by three distinct architectural aesthetics (blue stone (old campus), red brick (middle campus), and white brick (new campus/East & West edges). There’s no undoing what Uncle Ron left us, good or flawed. Thankfully, there will be no further projects that fail to incorporate a thoughtful consideration of how a building meets the best-use needs of its occupants/educational mission, and rehabbing Westover is a non-starter.

Whatever emerges regarding the need for a JMU natatorium, JMU will do it right. It may allow for some kind of community access (like the Memorial ballpark is used for summer league play), but the natatorium will be a wholly owned and operated JMU entity on university property.