Cleary University announced today that it will soon be breaking ground on a new athletic facility and residence hall at its Genoa Township campus.

The $12 million project, of which about $9 million will go to the residence hall, is part of a plan to create a campus atmosphere at a school which catered to commuters for most of its history. Cleary senior vice president for institutional advancement Dr. Matthew Bennett says both projects are going through the review process with township officials. The new dorm will increase Cleary’s residence hall capacity to over 200 students. He added that work on the project should begin soon, and expects both projects will be completed by fall 2018.

The athletic facility will feature an artificial turf field that will accommodate baseball, softball, men’s and women’s lacrosse, and men’s and women’s soccer teams. It will have seating for several hundred. Funding for the project was approved two weeks ago thanks to a gift from University Housing Solutions. which helped build the first residence hall at Cleary.

Cleary athletic director Ward Mullens says the field will be unique in that baseball and softball will share the same diamond, rather than have two adjacent diamonds, as is the case at most high schools and colleges around the country. (TR)