Niagara University’s Kiernan Recreation Center was recognized with a Brick-By-Brick Award from Buffalo Business First in the Collegiate category. Honorees are selected as examples of the best in real estate, construction, and development.
In January, Niagara celebrated the completion of the facility’s $11.5 million renovation project, which was funded through a $1 million grant from the NYS Higher Education Capital (HECap) matching program, as well as other private donations and university investments. The project included the construction of an 18,000 square-foot, two-story addition with a new weight room, sports medicine suite, advanced dance studios, field and classroom storage, athletic locker rooms, team meeting space, and recreation offices. In addition, improvements including replacement to the front gym floor, upgrades to Scaffidi gym, and infrastructure enhancements such as a new natatorium filtration system were also completed during the renovation, as were student-focused additions such as student meeting and multiuse spaces and a new, more welcoming entryway.
The facility, which was built in 1989, is used by more than 2,000 individuals each week, with 400 students participating in club sports and more than 1,000 students competing in intramural sports and workout programs each year. The center is also used by education majors, theatre and sports management students, the R.O.T.C. Purple Eagle battalion, and hundreds of members of the local community for youth summer camps and clinics. The Special Olympics has hosted its annual regional competition at the Kiernan Center since 2008, and the facility hosted the Ralph C. Wilson Foundation’s Girls in Sports Day in 2019 and was used for the 2019 American Diabetes Tour de Cure event.
NU partnered with LeChase Construction Services to manage the Kiernan Center renovations.