Construction To End Before Start of Fall Semester

By: Andrew Peters

Posted: 6/12/06

When UConn students return to Storrs this fall, it won't take long to realize that more than their class standing has changed over the summer. That's because while students are enjoying their summer off from college life, crews remain hard at work on many improvements to the Storrs campus, including the Student Union, athletic complexes and residential areas.

Construction is virtually complete on the highly anticipated new Student Union, according to George Kraus, director of design, planning, and construction management at UConn.

The additions to the Student Union include a food court, nine new meeting rooms and space for UConn's cultural centers. The new building boasts a 5,500 square foot ballroom that will hold up to 850 people for concerts, lectures and banquets, according to the Student Union's website.

Contrary to the original plan, student mailboxes will not be moved from the individual residence halls to the student union. Instead, new mailboxes will eventually be installed in the dorms, Associate Director of the Student Union Chuck Morrell said.

To diversify campus dining options, the food court will feature a Wendy's, Blimpie's, Panda Express, and a new dining services-run concept called the "Union Street Market," which will serve a variety of coffee shop, Tex-Mex, salad, rotisserie and pizza options, according to Morrell. Hours of operation have yet to be determined, but Morrell said he expects the restaurants to be open until at least midnight on most days. The new restaurants will accept HuskyBucks, but not dining points.

In addition to the restaurants, the Student Union will host a convenience store above the food court to "provide a diverse and robust line of products for the university community," Morrell said.

Another large-scale construction project, the intercollegiate, intramural and recreational facility located behind the South parking garage on Stadium Road, should also be ready for use by the time students return, Kraus said. The facility, which includes the Mark R. Shenkman Training Center and the Burton Family Football Complex, was designed and built according to high environmental standards, and has applied for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification as a "green building."

Students living in Hilltop and Charter Oak Apartments will enjoy standard maintenance improvements at both complexes. Work is scheduled to finish before students move in.

The long-awaited completion of the projects is a relief to UConn students who witnessed the construction all last year. In particular, the new Student Union will be appreciated by students who want to eat on campus past the close of most dining halls at 7 p.m.

"The construction has been an eyesore, but it will be worth it if the restaurants are open late," said Ramsay Ishak, a 3rd-semester chemistry and physiology and neurobiology major The dining halls close too early, which hampers my late night snacking."

The completion of the new buildings is a big step forward for UConn, which has received billions in grant money for campus improvements, but there are many more improvements anticipated in the next few years.

According to a prior statement by Provost Peter J. Nicholls, the university's next big project will likely be the renovation or replacement of the Monteith, Arjona and Torrey Life Sciences buildings, and could begin as soon as 2007.