POCATELLO - The Campus Recreation Center expansion kicked off Thursday morning at Reed Gym with speeches by Idaho State University officials and the student body president.

The $7 million project, funded entirely by student fees, will expand the center by 32,000 feet. It will include machine and free-weight areas, cardio machines, exercise areas, a multipurpose recreation room, the campus recreation offices, new restrooms, a lobby, lounges and more.

Arthur Vailas, Idaho State University president, called the groundbreaking a "historic moment" for ISU.

"This is a great gift the students are providing for all of us to benefit from," Vailas said.

Matt Spencer, ISU student body president, said his father attended ISU when Holt Arena was built in the late 1960s. Holt Arena, which was also paid for with student fees, was the first covered sports dome on any college campus in the United States.

Doug Milder, ISU director of campus recreation, said after the ceremony the expansion is a big step forward for recreation at the university.

"This puts us on par with the recreation facilities at Boise State and the University of Idaho," Milder said, noting that the center will be heavily used when it is completed in a couple of years.

When Reed Gym was built in 1951 at a cost of about $1 million, it was the premier athletic venue in the state.

The first addition, which included indoor tennis and racquetball courts, was completed in 1978. In the late 1990s, indoor basketball courts and a climbing wall were added.

The effort for the current expansion began in 2003 and the following year, the university began collecting student fees for the project.

Thursday's ceremony concluded with Vailas and others turning dirt with copper -plated shovels.