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When Jack Graham came to Ottawa University’s Surprise campus on a football recruiting visit three years ago, it was hard to see the future.
“It was just dirt,” the junior education major said. “The field wasn’t even here.”
Three years later, Spirit Field hosts overflow football games and OUAZ’s future appears as bright as the Saturday Night Lights that are transforming Surprise’s City Center.
“It’s a really exciting time to be here at the start,” said Mr. Graham, who is a backup quarterback on the football team, but also is working part-time assisting the university in managing construction of three major facilities — running about $55 million — that are about to open within weeks of each other.
They include:
The O’Dell Center for Athletics, a $25 million sports complex will include the newly named Faith Arena, a 1,000-seat gym for the Spirit games as well as city recreation use.
An as-yet-unnamed $20 million residence hall, which will house 340 students.
And the OUAZ Student Center, a $7 million cafeteria, lounge and conference center.
Their upcoming openings are the university’s next signs its grabbing a foothold in Surprise.
Keith Johnson, chief administrative officer for OUAZ, is Mr. Graham’s boss, and is in charge of making sure everything runs smoothly — a tough job for one big project, let alone three simultaneously.
Mr. Johnson said he devotes about 50 hours a week just on the construction portion of his job.
“One hour for each million,” he joked.
The impending openings are good news for a university that welcomed a 30% increase in enrollment this semester to bring its total to 800 students.
The campus eventually will hold 3,000 to 5,000 once it’s fully built out along 20 acres of land just south of the current campus.
Here’s a look at the three buildings set to open soon:
Residence Hall
The female students that the university has been housing at Surprise hotels will begin moving in to the 76,000-square-foot residence hall on Tuesday, Oct. 1, before the next eight-week session begins.
Their male classmates will be right behind, moving in during the first weekend of October during the university’s fall break.
The four-story building features 83 rooms and includes four student lounges as well as the campus security office.
The lounges will include two to four TVs, ping pong tables, pool tables, couches and tables for study. Mr. Johnson said he expects the third-floor lounge to be the “hopping” place.
The first floor has 11 washers and dryers, which was planned to fit the demands of 340 students.
“We think we’ve thought of everything,” Mr. Johnson said. “But we’ll see.”
Each floor has an East and West Wing that will only be accessible by students who live in that wing as an extra security feature.
The rooms themselves are either one- or two-bedroom suites. They all come with a 50-inch flat screen Samsung TV, a mini fridge, a microwave, two beds that can be laid separate or bunked, desks and chairs.
The more common two-bedroom suites house four students. It includes a sitting room in the front and a separate shower and toilet room.
“So that way one person isn’t taking up the whole bathroom,” Mr. Johnson said.
The one-bedroom suite is a little more private, as it’s made for two.
“It’s more privacy, but more money,” Mr. Johnson said.
The residence hall includes two husband and wife resident coordinators who live in two-bedroom apartments on the first floor of the facility.
Mr. Johnson said he doesn’t expect the facility to be full right away since the school session has already started, but he said no doubt by this time next year every bed will be taken.
Currently, the school is housing about 300 students at Surprise hotels. Most of those students will be integrated into the new campus building.
O’Dell Center for Athletics
If anything on the campus, non-students in Surprise will likely become most familiar with the O’Dell Center.
The 97,000-square-foot is part home to Faith Arena, which is part of a four-court gym that the City of Surprise will also use for recreation programs.
“It’s a shared-use facility, so that means residents of the City of Surprise,” OUAZ president Dennis Tyner told a Surprise Regional Chamber of Commerce crowd at a recent breakfast gathering. “That’s great for our students, and that’s great for you as well.”
The public recreation area will be open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Residents will be able to join the gym with a membership.
For OUAZ, the O’Dell Center will include locker rooms, a performance center, classrooms and the offices for coaches. It also will house another private weight room for OUAZ athletes to use.
Access to the press box and coaches’ boxes overlooking Spirit Field will also be through the O’Dell Center.
For game days, a curtain will separate the basketball or volleyball courts from the rest of the gym, giving the game a more intimate feel.
Mr. Johnson said about 1,000 seats will be available with mechanical portable bleachers that will extend like in most small college and high school gyms.
Tickets will be reserved, with some premium one featuring seat backs.
A scoreboard that hangs slightly east of center from the ceiling of the gym will be against the curtain when it comes down for games.
A more prominent videoboard against the wall behind the basket will show video replays and keep score, too.
The first scheduled game in Faith Arena is at 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26 when the men’s basketball team hosts the University of Southwest (New Mexico).
Student Center
The two-story student center is poised to be the main gathering point for OUAZ students — and probably parents when they come to visit their kids.
Mr. Johnson said the building just south of the residence hall could be serving its first meals at the campus dining hall by Friday, Sept. 27.
Mr. Tyner said the university has been cooking meals out of a mobile kitchen and then shipping it into converted classroom space.
The campus will offer typical meal plans found at most colleges and even offers an all-you-can-eat option.
It will set a student back $2,900 for the semester but it gives access to the food anytime it’s open between 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
One of the spruced up features is a wood over for pizza.
The 27,000-square-foot facility will also include quiet study spaces as well as the Spirit Fan Shop that will sell all those knickknacks mom and dad will love.
Jason Stone can be reached at 623-445-2805, on email at jstone@newszap.com or on Twitter at @thestonecave.
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