Loyola (Illinois) will build a new Intercollegiate Athletics Center near the Joseph J. Gentile Center, the current home for the school’s men’s and women’s basketball teams.

The 77,500-square foot building will include locker rooms for each varsity team, training and weight rooms, meeting rooms, new offices for each sport and general athletics administration, and a hall of fame. The $26 million facility should be complete in 2011.

The new center will replace most of the current facilities in Alumni Gym, which was built in 1924.

“The Intercollegiate Athletics Center will provide Loyola student-athletes with a first-class facility that will also help us recruit future Ramblers and advance our athletics programs,” said Athletics Director John Planek.

The new athletics center is the initial phase of an effort to upgrade non-academic student life at the Loyola campus.