Condemned gymnasium a concern for students and police

A building adjacent to the Rio Grande Campus parking lot is boarded up and unused. Nearby are dilapidated tennis courts and a makeshift skate park popular among local youth. The inside of the building is filled with graffiti and litter. Walking inside can be dangerous. Discarded drug paraphernalia lay throughout the creaking, damaged floors. Used needles are concealed by piles of garbage; all signs of recent human habitation.

Windows and doorways are boarded, but holes large enough for a person to fit through have appeared in the walls. The top floor is blanketed in garbage. Literature condemning the war is pasted to the walls, "Should we forget Abu Ghraib and Fallujah?" reads one. Another reads, "America must pay a price for its Iraq adventure."

Students and campus police have expressed safety concerns over the building, which has been deemed unsalvageable. Although there are no known reported incidents of criminal activity related to the site, there has been concern over elements breaking in to use the building for illicit activities, according to campus police.

Outside students are lined up, waiting in their cars for a space to clear in the adjacent parking lot. The lines are so long that the Austin Police Department has advised students to avoid waiting in line along neighboring Shoal Creek, at risk of municipal fines.

Laura Tony, an ACC student at Rio Grande, said, "On a Thursday night during a football game, you have the Austin Recreation Center and you have people trying to park for the game ... Are they going to tear down that rickety old building?"

The building, the former Austin Athletic Club, is adjacent to the ACC Skills Center, which is slated to be demolished to make room for a parking garage. The land the building sits on is owned by the city of Austin, but if acquired by ACC could allow for a larger structure.

Meanwhile, Tony has resigned herself to continue paying meters for parking, as a garage is not expected until summer 2009, according to officials.

Parking hassles at Rio Grande are nothing new. Over the years there has been talk of building a garage to help alleviate the situation. This latest semester brings in the rumor winds yet again. However, an exception this year is that nearby land could become available soon.

Ben Ferrell, vice president of business services, said, "We are well aware of that building, and that land … We've been looking at that site for a couple years; to work something out with the city."

In 1927 the recreation center opened its doors and became the first of its kind in Austin. The building housed a gymnasium where several workout classes were held.

In May of 1981 the Memorial Day flood pumped three to four feet of water inside the first floor of the building. Afterwards, the city found that the center was in Shoal Creek's floodplain. 1982 brought a bond to build a new recreation center in the area. In September 1986 a new facility was built on stilts near the property. Currently, its home to many ACC students' recreation classes.

The former center is located on city park land, but has been deemed unsalvageable. A demolition permit has been obtained to bring the building down, and a process is underway to bring in a company to carry out the demolition.

The Historic Landmark Commission agenda addressed the demolition permit. The commission had the authority to approve, but ultimately the city council voted to approve a permit due to safety concerns regarding the structure's stability.

For now, the decayed building remains neglected. An eyesore for many students and a location of interest for administrators and campus police, who patrol the nearby parking lot, the former Austin Athletic Club will continue to draw attention until it is inevitably razed.