By the time the last vote was counted for the proposed Recreation, Wellness and Events Center at Sacramento State, the partygoers were down for the count.

From late Wednesday night to early Thursday morning in the University Union, more than 200 students waited for the results in and around "The Hive," a pizza joint and bar that serves as one of the few social hubs on what's known as a commuter campus. The last ballot wasn't tallied until almost 5 a.m., long after the crowd had headed home for bed.

Five hours later, when school President Alexander Gonzalez announced the project passed, a dormant campus may have awoken.

A total of 4,378 students took part in the election, with 2,415 students (55.2 percent) voting to increase student fees to help pay for the 236,000-square-foot, $73 million facility that will include a 6,500-to 8,000-seat arena and state-of-the-art workout and wellness center. Last year, fewer than 2,000 students voted in the general campus election.

"I think it's cool that it passed," said Sonya Thomas, a junior liberal studies major from Fresno who voted for the center. "A lot of students don't ever hang out here, (they) just go to class and go home. It's not a very friendly campus."

That's what first-year president Gonzalez is determined to change. His face-lift plan dubbed "Destination 2010" includes the arena-recreation center, an increase in on-campus housing from 1,100 to 5,000 beds and numerous other upgrades.

Just 10 months into his tenure, Gonzalez became the first president to gain student body support on this issue. Sac State students voted down similar proposals in 1987, 1998 and 1999.

"It wasn't a squeaker," Gonzalez said of the vote. "I think this sends a pretty clear message to everybody that the students are supporting the kinds of changes we want to make on this campus."

The news was a long time coming for Sac State's coaches, none more so than Debby Colberg.

Since she became the women's volleyball coach in 1976, Colberg has done much with the drab venue of Hornet Gym, winning five Big Sky Conference championships in the last seven years and going 718-261 overall.

Built in 1954, the 1,086-seat gym was subpar by Division II standards. When Sac State's volleyball and basketball teams became Division I in 1991, the Hornets' home court was instantly among the nation's worst.

"This is just a relief, a major part of the campus that's been missing for years," said Colberg, who graduated from Sac State in 1970. "It's hard to show (recruits) the four walls of that gymnasium and convince them to take us seriously."

Men's basketball coach Jerome Jenkins and women's coach Dan Muscatell likewise were relieved by the vote.

Jenkins' program already is on the rise, as shown by the Hornets' No. 4 seed in the Big Sky playoffs last season, a program high. Muscatell is entering his second season, a painful 1-26 debut behind him and now the new potential for luring talent.

"Selfishly, I feel like, Oh boy, great, we got an arena," Muscatell said. "But I'm happy for the students who want a college life on this campus. Maybe we can become a bigger attraction."

From the selling to the celebration, however, Gonzalez's promise involving private financing has changed slightly. On the Associated Students Inc. arena-recreation center Web site, the fee increase was described as $10 per semester until Gonzalez raised $25 million in private money, when it would increase to $110 per semester.

But Thursday, Gonzalez said the higher fee amount will be collected once he raises $10 million "cash in hand" and has secured the additional $15 million in contractual pledges. The projected time of the tuition increase (2006 or 2007) remains the same.

"The $15 million will be raised in the life of the project," Gonzalez said. "If I can raise $25 million earlier, terrific."

Construction is likely to begin in 2006 or 2007, with completion tentatively scheduled for 2008.