Vision 2025: Moving Our Vision Forward

Concordia University Irvine has entered the next phase of its campus master plan, called Vision 2025, which will see the construction of two key athletics buildings and the renovation and enhancement of the iconic CU Center to strengthen the heart of campus.

“Whenever a university engages in new construction, it shows vibrancy, financial health, and a commitment to invest back into the student experience, which is key,” says Concordia president, Dr. Michael Thomas. “The construction we accomplish in Vision 2025 will result in showcase facilities. It’s exciting to be at the point of building out the heart of our campus.”

Changes are already underway to the CU Center for Worship and the Performing Arts, the campus’s primary gathering place for worship and community events. With 500 seats, the CU Center has been unable to accommodate the growing number of students who attend worship and other events. “It is a great problem to have, but we often have so many people in the building that there are no available seats,” says Thomas.

When the CU Center was originally built, it was ahead of its time in design and technology. But the room has certain acoustical “dead spots” and places where participants cannot view the altar and platform areas. To address these problems, the interior of the CU Center is being renovated and upgraded to include auditorium seating so 800 people can gather for communal worship, participate in convocations, listen to guest speakers, engage with others in conferences, or view musical and theatrical performances. Thomas says the updated CU Center will support Concordia’s commitment to worshiping together and will provide new, cutting-edge technology to properly showcase the university’s exemplary music programs.

Changes and updates to the CU Center include:

Expansion by roughly 6,000 square feet
Expansion of the altar and platform areas
A new entrance, featuring a central baptismal font
Complete ADA accessibility
A new lighting system, featuring a high level of control of the visual environment
A new, state-of-the-art acoustical system to enhance the listening experience
Auditorium seating which raises seating capacity from 500 to 800
A thrust platform surrounded by 270-degree seating
Permanent choir lofts built into the platform which double as additional seating for convocations and other large events
A fully rebuilt Casavant Organ with updated systems, refurbished pipes, additional ranks of pipes, and a new console.
On its exterior, the CU Center’s roof will be raised on one side to make room for expanded seating inside, and will retain a similar but not exact profile as before. A cross will be prominently placed above the main entrance, as is already depicted in the updated university logo, which was designed with the new construction of the CU Center imagined. The new construction will allow for the addition of a dedicated entrance, where the new baptismal font and Christian art will be featured.

“Improving the existing CU Center has been part of the conversation from the beginning of our planning,” says Tim Jaeger, vice president of university advancement. “While the new CU Center for Worship and the Performing Arts will be different, it will pay homage to the original, iconic building which has served us wonderfully over these many years. The rooflines will be similar, not exact. The work being done to the CU Center moves forward our vision for worship and the performing arts.”

Thomas says it is important for the campus to have a space to host events and speakers for the broader community. “We want to be known as the place in Orange County where difficult conversations can be hosted civilly, which our society desperately needs,” he says. The newly-renovated CU Center for Worship and the Performing Arts will help accomplish that.

LEADING ATHLETIC COMPLEX

Vision 2025 will also feature the construction of two brand-new buildings to serve athletes and all students with some of the best facilities in the NCAA Division II. Presently, Concordia’s fitness and weight room facilities are scattered about campus in three locations. Space limitations require staggering of schedules based on which sport is in season.

“We’ve never had a big weight room and that has been a hindrance and a bottleneck,” says Tim Odle, vice president of university operations. “When 40 percent of our undergraduate population are rostered student-athletes, we need a real weight room. It’s also important when recruiting to get the caliber of people we want here, and for staffing.”

The new Golden Eagles Fitness & Training Center (GEFT) will consist of two buildings — a field house and a fitness center — which add 19,000 square feet of space and profoundly affect the way visitors, athletics teams, and students of all types engage in athletics events and move about the campus. The fitness center will include a 5,000-square-foot weight room with workout stations, new weight training equipment and enough space for 55 athletes to work out at one time, making it the largest fitness center in the Division II PacWest conference. Also in the building will be a dance room, a strength and conditioning office, plus 1,000 square feet of offices. Glass rollup doors will allow students to extend workouts and circuit activities outside, if they choose.

Most importantly, the fitness center will be for everyone on campus to use. “The fitness center is not just for student-athletes,” says Thomas. “It is for all students and available to our whole community. A state-of-the-art fitness center like this is an amenity that all residential students expect, and we are very excited to offer this facility to our campus community!”

On the roof of the fitness center will be a viewing area where spectators can watch softball, baseball, lacrosse and soccer games, and track and field events. Restrooms will be located in closer proximity to the fields. When games are not taking place, the viewing deck will be available for students to use for studying and gathering. “The Golden Eagles Fitness & Training Center will dramatically improve the spectator experience here at Concordia,” says Jaeger. “Even the press box is going to be better.”

The second building, informally known as the “Field House,” will include 12,000 square feet of locker rooms, referee changing rooms, a film room, a new athletic training center with massage tables, taping tables and ice baths, public restrooms, another entertainment area and 356 newly-installed seats for viewing soccer, lacrosse, and track and field competitions — sports which up till now have had no permanent seating.

Odle says the two buildings will elevate Concordia to one of the premier Division II programs and athletics departments west of the Rockies. “I have traveled all around, and as far as facilities and beauty, there will be very few that can compete with us,” he says.

The upgrades already made to the softball and baseball fields — including professional Musco field lights and new seating — have made Concordia’s fields the go-to place for other teams. “Other coaches want to play at our facilities even if they’re not playing us because it’s so much nicer,” Odle says. “Everybody wants us to host regionals and super-regional tournaments.”

In a broader way, the GEFT and its new parking and walking paths will shift the center of gravity of campus and change the way people move about it. A skybridge will connect the two new buildings and the track, soccer and lacrosse field, tying together the lower and upper fields and offering dedicated parking and pathways for spectators’ families who come to watch sporting events on the upper field. At present, visitors must park in residential areas and walk through residential halls to reach the fields. Thomas calls this a “game-changer.” “This will allow a whole new reorientation of the spectator experience for our athletic contests,” he says. “It will impact the flow of foot traffic and car traffic tremendously on campus.”

The $45 million Vision 2025 capital project is proceeding on the strength of donations and without the University taking on any long-term debt. “We don’t build buildings here with long-term debt because it's not in the best interests of the University,” says Thomas. “We are blessed that our donors and alumni believe in our mission and are willing to support our growth initiatives. That support helps keep our tuition price point as low as possible. We are not building these buildings and expanding facilities on the back of tuition dollars. For that reason we probably build slower than other campuses, but when we build, we pay as we go.”

Jaeger says the beauty of Vision 2025 is that it nearly completes Phase 2 of the Campus Master Plan, achieving two major additions and renovations, and improving the quality of life for students in worship, athletics, and more in the heart of campus. Construction is scheduled to be completed in time for a ribbon-cutting during Concordia’s 50th anniversary.

“We are really excited that for our 50th anniversary we will celebrate this huge milestone in the University’s history by opening these three new facilities,” says Thomas.