The New Mexico State University’s James B. Delamater Activity Center is expecting an expansion that staff and students are buzzing over.
Michelle Mason, the Deputy Head of Intramural Sports and Recreation, stated the weight room within the activity center will be shut down in the spring of 2025 and moved to a larger area.
In the courts formally known as five and six, the new gym will combine all the elements of a public workout center like Planet Fitness. According to Mason, this gym will have televisions, turf and an above area for walking and running.
“We’re going to be able to combine the cardio equipment and weight room equipment so that we can have a gym space that reflects a lot of the gyms that we have in our area,” Mason stated.
“It was a definite need,” Mason said. “Right now, the weight room that we currently have only has a maximum capacity of 75 people.”
The capacity limitations in the current weight room stem from its small size. The current weight room measures 4,800 square feet. The new workout center will expand usable workout space to over 12,000 square feet, something Mason said they are proud to present to students.
Many students who use the weight room have complained about the limited capacity that currently exists, stating it can be difficult to use the weight room at all. Paul Drake, a student at NMSU and an employee in the activity center, said he uses the weight room about twice a week.
“There are some machines that are off limits when there’s too many people there,” Drake said.
Another student, Kaylena Timlin, voiced the same concern regarding the current weight room capacity.
“It’s so crowded and I feel like there’s not enough equipment for everyone to be using the exact same thing,” Timlin stated.
Many students are looking forward to the new gym having more space and equipment. According to Mason, it will. The new gym is expected to have a maximum capacity of 250 people.
Presley Saxon, a student at NMSU and an employee in the activity center, said she has a membership at an off-campus gym due to the limited space in the activity center. She also said that it is very crowded often. “I was thinking about actually canceling my membership whenever this [new] gym does open up,” Saxon said.
What will happen to the current weight room when the new one is built? Mason said because there are kinesiology students that study and use the lab upstairs in the activity center, the existing weight room area will be converted into a study area.
Saxon said she has friends who utilize this building often and would benefit from this new study space.
“A lot of my friends who are kinesiology majors will just go to the library because all the other majors have their designated spots for studying, but kinesiology doesn’t,” she added.
Mason stated a lot of the credit for this larger gym being built goes to former ASNMSU President, Garrett Moseley. She said he was the one who really took the initiative and brought it to the Board of Regents.
In 2022, Moseley, who was the ASNMSU President at the time, came up with the initiative to expand the current workout area within the activity center on campus.
“I fought really hard,” Moseley stated. “You can really make a physical change at this university if you are willing to find the resources.”
One of the funds assisting this project is the Student Fee Revenue Bond. This bond is being shared with the renovations occurring with the NMSU football locker room. Moseley said they received $4.3 million from the bond for the new workout center.
Moseley said he played a large part in this expansion, where he mentioned he came up with not only the idea but the location and appearance as well.
“The auxiliary gym in the back, I thought, was very underutilized,” he said. “So, I thought if you turned that into the new gym, it would be the most cost-effective way to do it.”
Moseley stated university leadership helped empower and push this initiative alongside him.
“I got to give a lot of credit to the university leadership that was involved because they let the students take the lead on the project,” he added.
Moseley said this project has been two years in the making and is awaiting its thrilling arrival. He said he hopes to see it done before he graduates from NMSU next year.
He feels this project to be exciting for him. He also expressed his hard work and thinks the current students and those coming in the future will appreciate what kind of access the new space will provide.
