Kearsley Construction Inc., of Spokane, is expected to start work this month on an estimated $789,000 renovation of women's athletic locker rooms and team meeting areas on Eastern Washington University's Cheney campus.

Jim Moeller, an EWU senior project manager, says the upgrades are being done to keep the university's athletic programs in compliance with NCAA goals for gender equity, under Title IX. However, as part of the improvements, EWU also is renovating a space for men's tennis, which doesn't have its own locker room facilities.

The majority of work will improve women's sports facilities in two separate buildings near Roos Field with a combined total of about 6,500 square feet of floor space. It includes renovating space inside the Special Events Pavilion, at 1136 Washington, for women's volleyball, basketball, tennis, and golf, including new locker rooms, showers, and team meeting rooms. This is also where EWU will renovate space for men's tennis.

Additional interior remodeling work will take place in the PE Activities building, at 1106 Washington, for the women's soccer program, including a locker room, showers, and a team meeting room.

The project will involve installing drywall partitions, wall modifications, new showers and toilets, custom cabinet wood lockers, tile and carpeted floor finishes, and minor modifications to the electrical and heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems.

The team rooms in both buildings will be built to allow flexibility for team instruction, halftime meetings, and study and lounge space for athletes, Moeller says. They will be furnished and equipped with big-screen televisions.

Moeller says both buildings were built in the 1960s and 1970s, and while some past interior renovations were performed, this project will rearrange some existing spaces to create new team areas. In the past, the women's volleyball and basketball programs have shared a space for lockers and a team room, but their seasons overlap, which created problems, Moeller says.

"This project captures space that was previously used for storage to create a space dedicated to volleyball," he adds. "Soccer is capturing about 30 percent of the area currently designated for general student lockers (that) is underutilized at this time, putting it in closer to their soccer field."

The Spokane office of Alaska-based USKH Inc. designed the project. The renovations, which are being paid for through the university's capital funds, are expected to be completed by January.