Hawaii Pacific University has a designated home gym for the first time in its athletics history.

HPU has secured use of St. Francis School’s shuttered gymnasium for the Sharks’ sports programs for the 2019-20 athletic calendar, athletic director Sam Moku told the Star-Advertiser on Friday. St. Francis, which closed down its campus due to financial shortcomings at the end of the 2018-19 academic year, is leasing the gym to HPU for an unspecified sum on a one-year basis.

HPU’s men’s and women’s basketball, women’s volleyball, and acrobatics and tumbling teams will practice and compete there; the Sharks marketing crew has begun replacing signage inside the gym, and work on a new floor begins this weekend, Moku said.

“We’re happy to have home-court advantage,” Moku said. “Our coaches are very resilient in how they manage the whole renting of various gyms for their needs. When you consider adding in practices, oh my gosh, they’re going across town, to Moanalua. They’re trying to find a warehouse or using the city parks. I think it’s been like that for a very, very long time.”