The wait - and it's been longer than expected - is almost over for the most expensive project in South Dakota State athletic history.

Construction on the Dykhouse Student-Athlete Center should be completed this week, according to SDSU physical plant director Dean Kattelmann, bringing to fruition a concept that was literally decades in the making and went beyond the contracted building time.

Sioux Falls-based Sunkota Construction began work on the 30,000 square-foot, $6 million facility in fall 2008 and was supposed to be done by Dec. 11. The company will have to pay a penalty for being about six weeks behind schedule.

Building namesake Dana Dykhouse, a former SDSU football player and the CEO of First Premier Bank, said that the fee is $1,000 per day.

"It's a thousand-dollar new donor every day - that's one way to look at it," Dykhouse said with a chuckle. "It's frustrating, but the end product, from my perspective, exceeds expectations."

The privately funded facility is located just beyond the north end zone at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium and will be a second hub for Jackrabbits sports. It will house an academic center, offices, meeting spaces, weight room and a locker room for the football team.

The Dykhouse Center is already being utilized on a limited basis by the football program. Recruits have been taken through during campus tours, while current players are using the training equipment on specific days.

All that's left before coaches and athletes can officially move in is to go through a mechanical punch list and conduct air quality tests.

Kattelmann said the building will meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards as required by the state Legislature. Beyond that, graphics have to be put on the walls, and Sunkota will finish landscaping in the spring.

As for the delays, Kattlemann would not divulge specifics, saying that financial penalties will be worked out between Sunkota and the state engineer's office.

The only extra cost that SDSU incurred because of the postponed opening is related to retaining rental trailers longer than expected. Football staffers have been working in those trailers since the fall.

"The biggest thing was last winter just didn't go well," Sunkota project manager Bill Goken explained. "It was a very wet site with a high water table, so we've been pumping water and fighting ice."

In the meantime, SDSU has been protective of the final project, limiting personnel access and prohibiting pictures for public consumption until it can unveil the finished product to project donors Feb. 8.

"We got a completed building," Kattelmann said. "It's a very good building."