Preparing for More Students at Liberty University

A new climbing wall under construction is one of several recreational options Liberty University would like to have in place as part of its plan for an anticipated 5,000 new students over the next five years.

Liberty plans to spend more than $10 million on recreational facilities in the next several years, said Lee Beaumont, directory of auxiliary services.

Many ideas are being considered, from a mini roller coaster on Candlers Mountain to a paintball complex and intramural sports fields.

“College isn’t all about the classroom,” Beaumont said Wednesday. “It’s an experience.”

Some of the improvements are included in the school’s master plan, which went before the Lynchburg Planning Commission Wednesday. Other additions are on the Campbell County side of the school’s property.

First up is an $80,000 indoor climbing wall that’s under construction at the LaHaye Student Center.

The roughly 50-foot-by-20-foot wall could be open by the summer, said Andrea Sherwood, director of fitness and recreation.

But it first must pass an inspection, and the school must train supervisors to help students with climbing harnesses.

“We’re really trying to offer more and get a lot more involvement with the students,” she said.

Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. said one such option would be a student center with nightly movies, games and other activities.

“Liberty doesn’t have a whole lot of places for students to just sit, watch a ball game and socialize,” he said.

Construction could start this year, he said, likely in the nine-story tower on Campus North.

A couple of other hang-out spots in the making are Doc’s Diner on east campus, a 20,000-square-foot Barnes & Noble Evangelical Superstore next to the School of Religion and a new Starbucks at north campus.

The diner will serve the students who live in dorms next door and, eventually, the general public, Beaumont said.

Officials have submitted site plans to the city for the bookstore, Beaumont said, and are doing prep work for breaking ground in six to eight weeks. They want to open the store by Christmas, he said.

The Starbucks is a more recent development, he said, and the coffee company has expressed interest in opening a location on campus north, probably in the fall.

Sports-related construction on and around Candlers Mountain makes up a few of the largest projects, Beaumont said.

“The expensive ones are going to be your intramural fields because when you put down turf, it’s very expensive,” he said.
Running roads and utilities to the sites also is costly, he said.

The school plans to add a paintball facility, nine intramural sports fields, a 2.5-mile cross-country loop, and an indoor soccer complex with two fields over the next several years.

The paintball arena would likely be the first project completed, Beaumont said, with an expected opening in three to four months.
Some of the longer-term projects on Candlers Mountain include zip lines, a “mountain coaster,” and a year-round ski slope with synthetic snow.

“We’re going to have some amenities that very few colleges have,” Beaumont said. “We’re trying to offer as much as we can for the students to do, and really just enhance the quality of life for our school.”