Hundreds of students gathered on West Campus yesterday afternoon as the new Noyes Community and Recreation Center celebrated its grand opening.
Members of Cornell Catering offered students samples of new food and drink items that will be sold in Noyes’ new convenience store, Cosmo’s. Building staff also offered tours of the facility and highlighted new entertainment options including a climbing wall and an air hockey table. Many students were impressed with the changes from the old building.
“The new Noyes is great. It’s so much nicer than the old one. I’m really happy with everything they added,” said Amey Sutkowski ’08.
The new Noyes features a 13-foot high climbing wall, pool and air hockey tables and an outdoor basketball court. On the lower level, students can play board games, watch television, relax and study.
The new facility also has three lounges with RedRover wireless, a large multipurpose room designed for fitness classes and several smaller rooms used for meetings.
On the upper level there is a new fitness center that is five times bigger than the old West Campus gym. The center has state-of-the-art fitness equipment such as a program called Cardio Theater that is designed to allow students using cardiovascular equipment to plug their headphones into their machines and listen to television while they work out.
“I’m really excited about the cardio machines, especially the treadmills,” Sutkowski said. “I’m glad we finally have some on West Campus.”
Below the fitness center there is also a 6,400 square foot basketball and volleyball court.
“It’s great that there’s finally a basketball court on West Campus,” said Saurin Sanghvi ’08. “I’m glad I won’t have to walk to North Campus anymore.”
Cosmo’s, the new convenience store located in Noyes, has new items not previously sold on West Campus, including Starbucks coffee and espresso, bubble tea, gelato and cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.
“We’ve also added a full line of kosher products for students on West Campus,” said Cosmo’s Operations Manager Harry Ashendorf. He added, “It’s a much more modern space and offers a lot more than J’s Express did.”
Officials said many of the changes added to Noyes were based in large part on student suggestions from a student focus group formed several years ago to let students voice their suggestions for improving West Campus life.
According to building director Jen Gudaz, Cornell’s goal was to design a facility that offers recreation activities and serves as a community gathering place for students on West Campus.
“The main purpose of the new building is to have a place for student recreation and to also bring together the entire community of West Campus,” Gudaz said.
Overall, students and staff were pleased with the new Noyes.
“The response has been great,” Ashendorf said. “Everything has been very well-received.”