Marines

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Construction workers work at the Wallace Creek Fitness Center aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. The fitness center is nearing completion and is expected to open in September.

Photo by Lance Cpl. Jackeline M. Perez Rivera

New fitness center nears completion

21 Jun 2012 | Lance Cpl. Jackeline M. Perez Rivera Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune

After more than a year and a half since its ground breaking ceremony, the Wallace Creek Fitness Center is almost finished. The facility was near enough completion that The Globe and Marine Corps Community Service’s Happenings crew had the opportunity to tour it and get a sneak peek at what it will offer its future patrons at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.

Slated to open in September, the facility is more than 100,000 square feet and features a wide variety of services and amenities.

“(This is) one more opportunity to offer our patrons a facility with the size, equipment and features to meet everyone’s needs under one roof,” said Paul Nilsen, the director of Semper Fit aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.

The facility will feature six multi-purpose rooms, two racquetball courts, a 25 meter pool with a handicap ramp, a spin studio with 50 bike capacity, two National Collegiate Athletic Association-size basketball courts with many baskets available for recreational use, and a second-floor indoor running track with a view looking into the first-floor basketball courts.

It will also house a Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Therapy clinic, massage therapists, personal trainers and Semper Fit’s offices.

The multi-purpose rooms will be used for many group exercise classes for members of the military community of all ages and fitness levels. Much of the facility can also be used as a Federal Emergency Management Agency shelter during natural disasters.

There will be a huge variety of fitness equipment in the facility along with a large climbing wall at the entrance of the building.

“The climbing wall is a focal point to the facility,” said Nilsen. “It also adds to the aesthetics of the fitness center.”

The fitness center is intended to make a handsome contribution to the architectural quality of MCB Camp Lejeune as a signature building of the base while fulfilling its mission of providing for its service members, said Nilsen.

The facility will be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design platinum certified, the highest LEED certification available.

There will be bamboo flooring in some sections, natural lighting, matting made from recycled rubber and walls made of recycled material that have little to no paint emissions, according to a previous Globe article.

In addition to the standard features to meet the platinum certification level, the staff at MCCS added other amenities to show its commitment to environmental concerns, said Nilsen. These efforts include priority parking for patrons who carpool or drive low-emission and fuel-efficient vehicles as well as motorcycles. The parking lot has pervious concrete to reduce and improve the storm water runoff as well as reduce heat, and multiple solar panels to add renewable energy to the building.

Information on these features will be available through an interactive touch screen in the main lobby that also provides other information about the building.

Many are looking forward for the chance to train there.

“Everyone is chomping at the bits to get into this place,” said Nilsen. “The appearance from the road is so inviting and large that the fitness-oriented people here at MCB Camp Lejeune all want to see what this new super structure has to offer. They should view the latest segment of the MCCS Happenings to get a sneak preview of the facility.”