St. Thomas (Minnesota) trustees approved construction beginning in May of a $52 million athletics complex and recreation center, following a brief delay prompted by economic conditions.

The Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex is the largest construction project in the university’s history, and will include a 2,000-seat arena for basketball and volleyball, an aquatic center, and replacement of a current field house to accommodate a larger indoor track.

Trustees had discussed proceeding with the project in October, following several years of study, but delayed approval because of concerns about the weakened economy’s impact on the university’s ability to raise funds for the project.

“Thanks to the support of generous contributors, we are able to move forward with the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex,” said Father Dennis Dease, St. Thomas president.

“Our athletics facilities, some dating to the 1930s and last upgraded in 1981, once were adequate for a much smaller student body,” he said. “Our facilities simply have not kept pace with our growth or the kinds of facilities now found at other Minnesota colleges. We are building for the future and to ensure the long-term success of the university. These new facilities will be among the finest in our conference and in the region.”

The school competes in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

“What we’ve lacked is a central facility that supports our entire athletics program, including recreational facilities where all students, staff and faculty can exercise and work out,” said Mark Dienhart, executive vice president and chief operating officer at St. Thomas. “We were operating with facilities that were suitable for a school with a couple of thousand students and making do as best as we can. But we are at a time when making do is not what St. Thomas is about.”

The athletics and recreation facilities are part of a larger project that also will result in construction of a $66 million student center featuring meeting and office space and retail and residential dining facilities. Both centers will be named for Lee Anderson, a university trustee and owner and chair of APi Group Inc., and his wife, Penny, who gave St. Thomas $60 million for those projects as well as a recently completed 725-car parking facility.

The Andersons’ gift is the largest contribution by an individual or couple to any Minnesota university or college, and it launched the school’s $500 million Opening Doors capital campaign in 2007. The school has raised about $365 million through the campaign to date. A majority of the funds raised will be used to fund endowments for scholarships, faculty positions and academic programs.

The Anderson Student Center still awaits approval for construction, which is expected next year. The athletics facilities are scheduled for completion by fall 2010 and the student center by February 2012.

The athletics and recreation complex also will feature a fitness center, weight room and aerobic rooms, as well as offices, classrooms and labs. The complex will replace O’Shaughnessy Hall, built in 1939, and also result in demolition of Schoenecker Arena and Coughlan Field House, opened together in 1981, and the nearby, 95-year-old Foley Theater.

“There is no question that this university wants to be home to a top-10-type Division III athletics program,” said Athletics Director Steve Fritz. “Yet I would rate our facilities in the bottom half when compared to our national competitors, even in our conference. The new athletics complex will give our student-athletes top-10 facilities within Division III and our recreational users unparalleled fitness opportunities.”