By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

With the baseball stadium virtually finished, the next step in construction of the University of Cincinnati's $80-million Richard E. Lindner Varsity Village will be completion of a new, 2,000-seat soccer/track complex located just down the hill from the new baseball stadium.

BEARCATS' LAIR

• Photos of the new stadium • Varsity Village map   (930k PDF file; pan & zoom)

The soccer-track complex is under construction and is scheduled to be finished in August.

"We widened that field to make it legitimate NCAA-qualifying width and length," said UC athletic director Bob Goin. "We're putting in a new eight-lane track with press box, rest rooms and concessions."

The entire Varsity Village complex is expected to be finished in the 2005-06 school year.

The school is on target to raise at least $50 million in private donations to pay for the complex, according to associate athletic director Brian Teter. He declined to release a donor list, but said that more than 50 donors have given between $1,000 and $10 million. He confirmed that Cincinnati businessman Richard E. Lindner donated $10.2 million, and Fifth Third Bank donated $10 million.

The remainder of the $80 million, Teter said, will come from a university reserve fund and the athletic department's operating budget.

The centerpiece of the complex is the Richard E. Lindner Athletic Center with offices, reception and meeting places, a museum, academic services center, and a centralized sports medicine and training suite.

A new 15,000-square foot strength and conditioning center, which will double the size of the current weight room, will go in the Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center.

"Our goal," Goin said, "is to be in the new building by Jan. 1, 2006."

Construction of the Lindner Center, located next to Fifth Third Arena at the northeast end of Nippert Stadium, is under way. To make room for it, Laurence Hall has been demolished, along with the men's basketball and football offices that were part of Fifth Third Arena.

The football offices are temporarily located in Edwards Center on Corry Street. The men's basketball offices are in French Hall.

A 150-car garage is under construction behind Nippert Stadium. Once the garage is finished - the target is the fall of 2005 - a new tennis facility that will seat approximately 1,000 will be built on top of it.

A multi-purpose green space, which will be called The Lawn, will stretch between the baseball stadium and the tennis courts and is expected to be the last part of Varsity Village to be completed.

"It will be a beautiful green field," Goin said. "There's going to be no lines on it. It will be a place for kids to throw down a blanket, sit out there and throw a Frisbee."