Wisconsin Crew House Now Weeks Away

Looking at the outside of the new UW Crew House, one cannot tell all that is going on inside as the end of construction draws ever nearer and the fall racing season wraps up.

Walking up the stairs to the main entrance of the future home of Wisconsin crew, there are now railings to hold onto to aid one's ascension into the main floor. Opening the front door brings one into the foyer, which opens further into the lobby of the building. Tique wood now decorates the walls, surrounding the display cases where a collection of Wisconsin rowing memorabilia will describe the program 's history. Table saws dominate the landscape of the room as workers periodically come to make a cut in a piece of wood.

A glass doorway to the right opens into the tank room, where workers are attaching the red wall panels. To the left side, a door opens to the kitchen.

Directly in front, on the far side of the lobby, the community room is full of workers some on ladders working on the walls; some crouched on the ground working on the stairs. The memorabilia display case, above the north-facing windows, is now in place.

Office space to the right of the community room shows Tique covered walls. A window washer cleans the outside of the windows, while doors scattered throughout the hallway rest against walls next to future coaches offices.

Locker rooms and bathrooms on the floor also move closer to completion. The most significant changes on that front include carpeting on the floors below some of the hallway lockers and individual shower stalls, with even shower curtain hooks hanging. Also, a quick glance up brings realization the ceiling work appears to be finished, with vents in place and other lighting installed.

A visit to the third floor also shows much progress as carpeting has been completed and a cleaning crew vacuums the floor. Cleaning crews also wash the sliding glass doors that can divide the large open space into three, while another worker combs the walls and touches up any marks with white paint. Above the sliding glass doors, what can best be described as flood lights shine brightly toward the wave-live ceiling. Wires dropped from the ceiling throughout the entire floor mark where the remaining lighting will be added. Finally, wood doors are in place, but the glass for the doors is missing to make the product complete.

A quick descent to lake level shows that with the removal of a small amount of equipment, it appears the UW crews could move their shells in tomorrow. While that may or may not be the case, the floors are cleaned, cabinets and counter space await tools and humidifiers continue to hum away.

Much detail work is going on inside the building, while outside much, if not all, the landscaping has been completed. Concrete walkways and mulch make the grounds look finished. The circle at the end of Babcock Drive has even been replaced and repaved. On the lake side, yellow warning paint has been laid down to mark where the bike path will traverse the area between the lake and the crew house. In all, one can walk the entire perimeter of the site along concrete walkways.

It is now just a matter of time before Miron Construction turns over the crew house to the Wisconsin Athletic Department. While the project completion is weeks away, one gets a little more feeling of what it will be like with rowers wandering the halls, coaches making calls from their offices and shells filling the space of the boat bays. Soon the rowers year-long sacrifice will pay off.

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