With the thrust of 17 shiny shovels into a patch of Reeves Field and a ceremonial toss of dirt into the air on Friday, March 1, American University officially broke ground on the Alan and Amy Meltzer Center for Athletic Performance before a celebratory audience of campus leaders, trustees, student-athletes, and other community members.

“History has been made here on this campus in big and small ways,” President Sylvia Burwell said during the ceremony. “Today, with the groundbreaking of the Alan and Amy Meltzer Center for Athletic Performance, we’re going to make history again. It’s truly gratifying to be here today to see this vision become a reality.”

The Meltzer Center will be the first new athletics and recreational construction on campus in more than 30 years. Once completed, the state-of-the-art building—which builds on AU’s commitment to empowering student-athletes to succeed on the field and in the classroom—will be the cornerstone of the Student Thriving Complex. Located in the heart of campus, the complex represents AU’s historic $109 million investment in student thriving.

The project also includes a renovation of Mary Graydon Center and the addition of the new Student Well-Being Commons. Longtime trustee Alan Meltzer, CAS/BA ’21, and his wife, Amy made a transformative $15 million gift to name the center as part of AU’s Change Can’t Wait campaign. Board chair emeritus and current member Jack Cassell, SOC/BA ’77, Denise Cassell, and the Bender Foundation, Inc. also made foundational lead gifts to the Meltzer Center.

In addition to boasting competition space and practice and training facilities for AU’s teams and helping Eagles engage and build community, the Meltzer Center will also achieve two significant sustainability milestones:

• The facility will be the university’s first net-zero building—and the first of its kind at any university across DC and the Mid-Atlantic region. The building will generate energy onsite through renewable resources that are equal to or greater than the total energy consumed by its operation.
• The building will be AU’s first to be LEED-Platinum certified, which represents the highest possible rating for a new build on the world’s most widely used green building rating system. That designation certifies the building checks off 80 or more points related to sustainability through environmentally conscious design on factors like sensitive land protection, water efficiency, and innovation.

Joining together support for students and furthering the university’s commitment to achieving a small environmental footprint, the Meltzer Center exemplifies the evolution of AU’s campus experience.

“This project represents AU’s values and furthers our commitment to offering our students enhanced facilities that provide resources and space to develop and sharpen lifelong skills,” said Bronté Burleigh-Jones, Kogod/BS ’91, MBA ’93, AU’s CFO, vice president, and treasurer.