Notable: It’s Lights Out at Luther College’s Regents Center

Luther College’s Regents Center has been home to all 21 Norse athletic teams for more than 60 years. It’s hosted hundreds of basketball games and volleyball and wrestling matches; welcomed thousands of student-athletes, coaches and fans; and provided training and rehab facilities and team meeting space to football, tennis, softball and baseball players.

Since 1962, Regents Center has been the center of Norse pride and Luther College spirit, but on February 25, 2025, it held its final event when the Norse women’s basketball team took on the University of Dubuque Spartans in the first round of the American Rivers Conference Tournament. It was a bittersweet victory for the Norse women; though they advanced in the tournament, the lights dimmed in Regents Center for the last time.

“The way this facility currently looks will be gone, but the memories will remain,” said Dave Blanchard, Luther’s Sports Information Director, to a large group of students, athletes, fans, alumni and staff during a lights-out ceremony from center court of the Regents Center Gymnasium.

Thanks to a historic $10 million gift from Michael (’92) and Nicole Gerdin and the Gerdin Charitable Foundation, Regents Center is undergoing a significant transformation and renovation to become the Gerdin Fieldhouse for Athletics and Wellness. That work includes converting the gym into an arena with seating surrounding what will become the Birkestrand Family Court, a basketball and volleyball court paid for by a generous $2 million gift from Dennis (’64) and Suzanne Birkestrand.

We began construction on Gerdin Fieldhouse in August 2024, focusing our early efforts on spaces that enabled Norse athletic teams to continue using the facility through the end of the ’24 – ’25 basketball season. In addition to the gym conversion, work also includes construction of a new 5,787-square-foot public lobby on the facility’s north end to include a new concession stand, restrooms and a Norse athletics Hall of Fame. A new 10,200-square-foot wrestling training complex is being built, and athlete training and rehab facilities, locker rooms and meeting and study spaces are undergoing renovations.

In October 2024, Jenifer Ward, Luther College’s President at the time, noted that the renovation of Regents Center is a “continuation of more than 10 years of significant investments in our student-athletes, student body, faculty and the entire Decorah community – 10 years during which we built an aquatic center and upgraded our football field, tennis courts, softball and baseball stadium, indoor track and our sports and recreation center.”

According to Jeff Smith, Senior Vice President of Construction, we’ve been heavily involved in most if not all of Luther’s capital improvements over those 10 years as well as many other campus design-build projects for a quarter of a century.

“Luther College has found value in our design-build model time and time again, making for a very rewarding relationship over all these years,” said Jeff. “We’re excited to be working on Gerdin Fieldhouse and are confident Luther’s student-athletes and fans will enjoy it for many years to come.”

Construction of Gerdin Fieldhouse is expected to be complete by December 2025.

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