Mercy University has broken ground on a $19.5 million fieldhouse on its Westchester Campus, the riverside campus that straddles Dobbs Ferry and Irvington. The 35,000-square-foot building, approved by the Village of Irvington in February 2026, will hold three full courts, an elevated walking track looking out over the Hudson River and a new plaza at the edge of the river overlook. The university announced the groundbreaking on Friday, November 13, 2026.

The building will carry a name: the Kenneth L. Bove Fieldhouse, after Ken Bove, president and CEO of DCW Media and a supporter of the university for more than a decade.

What goes inside

The center of the building is a 21,000-square-foot open floor laid out as three full courts. Mercy says the courts will be used for tennis, pickleball, volleyball and basketball, by varsity teams, intramural players and anyone using the space for recreation, and that the same floor will host open houses and student events when the nets come down.

Above that floor, a mezzanine track will circle the courts at the upper level, giving walkers and runners a view of the Hudson as they go around. A two-story wing on the side will hold locker rooms and changing areas, an activities desk, offices, program rooms and meeting spaces, along with informal places to sit between classes.

The work does not stop at the walls. Outside, the plan adds a stone-and-grass pedestrian quad that connects to the campus path along the Metro-North line, and a plaza behind the building meant for both campus and community gatherings at the river overlook. The design also calls for natural daylight, water-saving fixtures, a building management system and new landscaping that includes native trees chosen with arborists and environmental consultants.

Who designed it, and when it opens

Alloy Design Studio designed the fieldhouse with the university. The architects describe the site as an underused corner of the campus with views across the Hudson to the Palisades, and the project as a way to bring student life, athletics and recreation together in one connected set of indoor and outdoor spaces.

Construction comes in stages. The first phase, already underway, moves parking, builds new outdoor recreation courts, lays new walking paths and redoes the landscaping in the north-central part of the campus, and Mercy expects it to wrap up in December. Work on the fieldhouse itself and the riverfront sitework follows right after, with the whole project scheduled to be finished in 2028.

Part of a larger rebuild

The fieldhouse is one piece of an $87 million, five-year capital plan tied to the university's Momentum 2030 strategic plan. That plan has already paid for renovated classrooms and new science and health professions labs, and work has begun on the Mercy Hall complex, which is being turned into a single student services center with updated classrooms and meeting rooms and improved accessibility.

Mercy's leadership has framed the fieldhouse as something for its neighbors as well as its students. The university's senior vice president for capital planning, Thomas Simmonds, has said the project is meant to give residents of Dobbs Ferry and Irvington a welcoming place on campus and to serve as a community resource, though the university has not yet published details on public hours or community programs for the new building.

What to watch for

Neighbors on the campus side of Broadway will see the first phase taking shape through December: new parking areas, outdoor courts and paths. The fieldhouse building rises after that. The university's news page and its capital planning updates are the place to follow the schedule, and any public use of the courts and track will be announced closer to the 2028 opening.

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