Open house held at new GU residence hall, fitness center

Published: August 23, 2024

Author: Dave Bell

A large crowd of Greenville University employees and community residents got a preview of the University’s new 246-bed residence hall during a recent open house.

The August 15 event featured tours of student rooms and an opportunity for the public to see the state-of-the-art Jack Trager Athletics Performance & Training Center on the first floor of the four-story building in the 100 block of East College Avenue. Trager was a coach and athletic director at the school in the 1980s and 1990s.

GU President Suzanne Davis said the new residence hall – named University Hall – was needed to accommodate the school’s largest traditional undergraduate class in the past decade. The building will take the pressure off some of the University’s older residence halls to allow for maintenance and other upgrades.

She thanked the project’s general contractor, GU alum Charles McPherson (’85), and several local and regional companies involved in the project.

Dana Smith, area coordinator for University Hall, said the residence life staff prayed over the facility at each phase of its construction. “We asked God to release a fresh spirit in this place," said Smith, pictured above with President Davis. "My prayer is that our students will feel a special touch from the Lord here. We want this to be a shelter, a home away from home, and a place of refuge.”

Scott Voyles (’13), GU’s Head Strength and Conditioning coach who is pictured above, showcased the fitness center’s Eleko equipment, known worldwide as the gold standard in weightlifting.

“Having this equipment will help with recruiting and will provide a competitive advantage for our athletes,” Voyles said, noting that the center also will be available to non-athlete members of the student body.

“This facility gives us equipment and technology we’ve never had before,” he continued. “Our athletes were blown away by it when they saw the finished product this fall. We now have a better fitness facility than a lot of Division I schools.”

Once the school year begins, the facility will be open to GU students at staff from 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays, and 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Sundays.