Clemson’s club rowing team expects its new home to be finished at the Snow Family Outdoor Fitness and Wellness Complex on Clemson’s campus by the spring of 2024.
The original plan for the completion of the boathouse was early next January, but it will likely be done in early spring, just in time for the crew’s 2,000-meter race season in the spring.
Ground broke on the site on Sept. 29, and thus far, construction has been moving along schedule.
The club was displaced from its previous space due to the construction of Clemson’s new women’s sports complex, which includes rowing and newly added lacrosse and gymnastics.
The club had to act quickly to ensure the future of their team had a permanent place to continue its already long history for many years to come.
The team, in conjunction with the Clemson Facilities department, found a spot next to the new Clemson Facilities office on Seneca Creek Road as a part of the Snow Family Complex.
After working with the office for months looking for other places to put the team, Todd Barnette, chief facilities officer, said it hit him one day that his department could be neighbors with the team.
“If we displace people, I feel responsible for finding them a home,” Barnette said. “This one benefits us (the staff) as a shared-use facility as well. With the move to the new office, many faculty have lost that student contact that was there when the office was right in the middle of campus.”
The department is looking forward to reconnecting with the campus atmosphere they used to have. This project aims to achieve that goal while also helping the students and coaches on the team continue to do what they love.
This new building brings a lot of excitement to the team itself, as the members will now have their own space to continue their love for rowing and create a new space for everyone to enjoy.
For now, the team is staying temporarily just outside of its previous home, in the same area around the rowing docks. Despite this setback, the team is attacking its fall season with two more regattas on the schedule, including the Head of the Hooch Regatta in Chattanooga, Tennessee, this Saturday and the Head of the South Regatta on Nov. 11th in Augusta, Georgia.
