'Working out at Florida Atlantic University can be a cramped and confusing experience for students.

Want to lift weights or use the cardio machines? There's a tiny, 3,500-square foot fitness center on campus. Need to change clothes afterward? Then you have to walk outside to a campus pool, where there's a 1970s-era locker room.

If you want to shoot hoops or join an aerobics class, the college does have an arena. But it's shared with the athletic teams, so students don't have access until 5:30 p.m. most days.

"It's pretty bleak," Eric A. Hawkes, director of campus recreation, said of the recreation offerings on the Boca Raton campus. "We are really behind, in terms of what other state universities are doing."

But the situation should improve late next year when a 38,000-square-foot facility is expected to open. FAU plans call for a second phase, which eventually would expand the building to 140,000 square feet, although money hasn't been identified for that yet. A groundbreaking for the first phase likely will be this fall.

"It's definitely needed," said senior Roberto Roy, 26, a Boca Raton resident, who was using machine weights. "It gets very crowded in here."

While the fitness offerings are tucked in the southwest part of campus, away from most academic buildings, the new center will be more centrally located at the northeast entrance of the campus breezeway along Lee Street.

It will have at least 40 pieces of cardio equipment, including treadmills, stationary bicycles and elliptical machines, which is twice what the current fitness center offers. The weight room also will be larger.

There will be two indoor basketball courts, volleyball courts, badminton courts and two multipurpose rooms for yoga, aerobics, Pilates and spinning.

"Recreational facilities are becoming the new student unions, a place where students can meet," Hawkes said. "Universities are putting millions into these facilities, because they become a true recruitment and retention vehicle for university students."

The $11 million building will be paid for with state capital dollars that are earmarked to enhance student life. Student government money will be used to run the center.

FAU expects to pay another $30 million to $35 million for the second phase of the project, which would include a pool, juice bar, more fitness space and possibly a sauna and steam room.

The university likely will come up with a fundraising plan for the second phase, Hawkes said.

The recreation center is part of FAU's effort to become more of a traditional campus, similar to University of Florida and Florida State University. FAU is building more residence halls and planning a stadium and more on-campus shops.

Most of FAU's 26,000 students are from South Florida or the Treasure Coast and commute to class.

"If you really want to persuade kids to come here, we have to have a better gym," said Felix Rydz, 23, a senior from Delray Beach.'