Thirsty, tired joggers of the campus lakes will soon have a stretching station and water fountain at their disposal.
Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market has donated $11,500 to BREC, the East Baton Rouge Parish recreation department, to construct a stretching station at Stanford Avenue Park on the east edge of campus.
“[The stretching station] is like a fitness cluster,” said Kristi Williams, BREC communications director. “It has three different stretches – body tuck, body pull-up and leg flex. The station is 25 feet by 25 feet and includes a water fountain, rubber surfacing and benches.”
Neighborhood Market store manager Mike Lowery said he noticed a need for additions to the running facilities.
“I’m an avid jogger,” he said. “When I first got down to Baton Rouge [from Tennessee], I went around the lake a couple times, and I needed some water and a good stretching place.”
BREC will match Wal-Mart’s donation, bringing the total donation to the project to $23,000.
Ted Jack, BREC director of planning and engineering, said the stretching station is included in the first phase of a larger, all-encompassing renovation of the park. BREC was already working on the project before it received Wal-Mart’s donation.
“We’re redoing the parking so it will be one parking lot,” he said. He said the bidding and construction processes for the stretching station could take up to a year to complete.
Later phases of the project will involve the dredging of the campus lakes; refurbishing of Baton Rouge Beach; and the addition of sand volleyball courts, a concession and restroom complex.
Jack said private donations like Wal-Mart’s speed projects along.
“[The donation] helps stretch the public dollars,” he said. “We end up with a better project with more amenities than we would have by ourselves.”
—-Contact Parker Wishik at [email protected]