MCLA Campus Center Makeover Nearly Complete
 New booth and lighting are being installed. The renovations in campus center also include a Subway franchise. |
"It'll be ready," James Stakenas, vice president of administration and finance, said last week. "We can feed students today, it's just where ... Right now, the contractor informs us that we'll be able to serve out of the cafeteria."
The renovations have revamped the look and structure of several areas of the campus center, including the main cafeteria.
"It will look amazingly different than it did six months ago," Stakenas said. "The cafeteria itself, the portion where students get their food and eat, has been completely remodeled. We have gutted it, we have put in new vents for heating and cooling. We are putting in new serving stations. We are putting in new flooring.
"It's been painted and we've created a new entryway so it'll feel a little more spacious on one hand, but more comfortable for students on the other."
In addition to the cafeteria, the areas that held Public Safety, the campus convenience store, the bookstore and the Marketplace have undergone renovations. While the convenience store, bookstore, and Marketplace will stay in the same area, Public Safety will move to the former Brewer-Perkins building on Ashland Street.
In order to expand the Marketplace, bookstore and convenience store, a stairwell from the second floor will be removed and the outside concrete patio area will be converted to indoor space.
"We will have a little more space for the bookstore. We'll have a little more space for the convenience store. This part of the project won't be done until late November," Stakenas said. "The expectation is that students will actually have a comfort zone in the Campus Center. There, they can meet their friends, have coffee, have a meal, wait for your friends in a comfortable location and have some gathering spaces that we currently don't have right now.”
Until the work is completed, the bookstore will reside in Sharky's commuter lounge and the basement floor of Bowman Hall will house aspects of the convenience store.
The completed Marketplace will not only be home to the bookstore and convenience store but a Subway sandwich shop as well.
 The college is taking over some exterior space to create a new entrance. |
Stakenas added that the top choice amongst students was a Starbucks, but it was not financially viable for the college.
"We were looking for a coffee vendor to come in but weren't able to afford the coffee vendor that people wanted to come in. So we're setting up in this marketplace area, a special coffee area ... and Aramark, [MCLA's food service provider] will manage that," he said.
The college's administration looked through several concepts for the renovations before settling on one. Work was originally scheduled to begin last year, but the planning process took longer.
"It was just time," Stakenas said. "We needed to do something in the cafeteria. We needed to replace the carpets, we needed to freshen our services to students and we have a good relationship with Aramark and so we constructed a contract renewal with Aramark and put these renovations in as part of the contract renewal."
Stakenas spoke highly of the plans and the progress of the campus center.
"It's new, it's clean, it's beautiful. You get more choices for your meal plan dollars. And it looks like a good investment for the students."
Tags: building project, MCLA,
