On a recent ice cold evening, fans of the University of Vermont's women's basketball team filed through the front doors of Patrick Gymnasium. As they walked in, bedecked in green and gold, they passed under a banner heralding a new athletic complex. It read "The wait is almost over."
But is it? The answer depends on your definition of "almost." The banner on Patrick Gym has been there for at least five years.
Athletic Director Jeff Schulman told Vermont Edition Tuesday that UVM has not abandoned plans to renovate and expand its indoor athletic facilities.
"My dilemma is, if we pull it down, then it's like, what are we saying?" said Schulman. He joined the university's athletics department in 1993 and became its director in 2016. "Our goal is to get this moving again."
No one knows the travails of the athletic complex project better than Schulman. A former UVM hockey player, Schulman spent countless hours skating in Gutterson Fieldhouse in the 1980s.
Both Gutterson and Patrick Gym first opened in 1963. About fifty years later, in 2012, UVM leadership announced plans to build a state-of-the-art multipurpose facility called the Tarrant Center. It would be the home of UVM's basketball teams and host concerts, lectures, conferences and entertainment events.
The complex would be named for Richard E. Tarrant Sr., who made a $15 million commitment. Tarrant founded the healthcare software company IDX Systems Corporation and sold it to GE Healthcare in 2006, turning his focus to philanthropy.
The project would involve a major renovation of Gutterson Fieldhouse, construction of a new home for the university's basketball teams, and the transformation of Patrick Gym into a recreation and wellness center.
The Board of Trustees approved the project in May 2019. Construction crews broke ground soon after.
Then came COVID. The project came to an abrupt halt, as did all other non-essential construction across the state. The trustees officially put the project on hold.
As the years went on, building costs rose precipitously. Schulman said the total cost for the Tarrant Center "swelled dramatically." Meanwhile, the university faced other financial pressures coming out of the pandemic.
The decision was made to shift the focus away from a big new athletic complex and towards smaller projects — a group fitness hub, a multi-use activity court, new hockey locker rooms, a new video board for Gutterson. The Tarrant Center's namesake, Rich Tarrant, died last year.
But Schulman still dreams of the Tarrant Center.
"It's something that I talk about and work on every day," he said. He calls UVM's new president Marlene Tromp an ally in the fight. "Since Dr. Tromp took over, she and I have worked really hard on this project, trying to get some momentum going again," he said.
The project's boosters got some wind in their sails late last month when Gov. Phil Scott mentioned it in his budget address to the state legislature.
"There are still pockets of money in every agency, department and division that will make a real difference for all of us, like helping UVM get the new multipurpose center back on track, which will be a huge economic driver for both the state and university," Scott said in his address. The proposed investment would come out of state funds set aside specifically for higher education.
Schulman said the governor's budget proposal is a recognition of the project's potential to bring value to the entire state, not just those in Chittenden County. "It will bring visitors to the community," he said. "It'll drive economic activity."
Broadcast live on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.
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