In announcing the gift, the corporation's board of directors said Mr. Rechnitz had offered to underwrite the design and construction of the structure, which would also include a public boathouse, space for park maintenance operations and bathrooms.
Now 31, he returned last spring to the national team's base in Princeton, N.J., where it rents boathouse space.Some rowers live communally, but Volpenhein house-sits for a professor.
This fall, architects for Mr. Rechnitz are to unveil a conceptual design for the building, which will also include a boathouse, bathrooms and storage space; in addition, they must submit a supplemental environmental impact statement for the project, which will look at traffic, among other issues.
In an effort to encourage their artistic daughter, Marianne, Walter and Alice Evans had been putting on plays in their boathouse on Lake Mauweehoo, but outgrew the space and the location.
But storms and a 1999 fire reduced most of the pier to a heap of broken and burned wooden beams, and the city's plans to rebuild the pier do not include space for a community boathouse.
Space for the basin, the boathouses, the changing rooms and other buildings was obtained by demolishing many of the former pavilions and cutting in half the area taken by the artificial lake and the canals.
The Boathouse 46 Westerly Road Ossining (914) 923-6466 GOOD THE SPACE Relaxed riverside restaurant with witty nautical touches, a partially covered patio and an ample bar.
If entering the event's space, a charming 1905 Beaux Arts-style boathouse, to music from "2001: A Space Odyssey" felt a bit kitschy, well, so was the '70s space-age-inspired look that prompted the party.
But workers at the Boathouse say it is anything but a pleasant place to work.
The university currently rents space in Thompson Boat Center, though has ongoing plans to build a new boathouse closer to campus.
OUTDOOR SPACE: The property is on a third of an acre, with a two-slip boathouse and access to a cove that opens into Lake Rabun.
