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Manchester to dig into spring
ground
for new College Union
with April 20 celebration
Manchester College digs into a new College Union on April 20, breaking
ground on a $7.5 million transformation of the East Street structure and
its role on the residential campus.
The new design is dramatic. Everything will change, including the size
of the building and key areas. The College Union will be 80 percent
larger, at 51,348 square feet, with room for a larger Campus Store, the
bustle of student activities and organizations, Career Services,
conference rooms, an art gallery and The Oaks coffeeshop.
The groundbreaking begins at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 20, and
everybody is invited to the celebration. As with other major
construction projects of the $72 million Next Step! fund-raising
campaign, the College is paying for the new union without debt. The
general contractor is Michael Kinder & Son of Fort Wayne.
Construction is expected to take 18 months, with minimal disruption of
campus life. When complete for fall 2007 classes and Homecoming, some
key campus programs will have spacious, new homes in the center of it
all.
Career Services and the Campus Store will move across campus into the
Union and into daily flow of college life. Student activities offices
and work areas also will come under the roof. Flexible meeting rooms
upstairs will accommodate hundreds of meeting and conference-goers. Both
floors will have an accessible elevator and restrooms. Chartwells, the
College’s food service, is a key donor for a new kitchen that is 80
percent larger, with three open cooking stations and a breakfast area.
The design by MSKTD & Associates of Fort Wayne enables students to
continue to take their meals upstairs while construction of the new
dining commons is under way on the first floor. After food service moves
into its permanent place (with $600,000 in new equipment) on the first
floor, construction will begin on the upstairs areas for Career Services
and Student Activities and the meeting rooms.
Upstairs, meeting and dining rooms that contract or expand as needed, a
secure, glassed front art gallery for visiting and campus exhibits, and
offices will share the College Union with the community, alumni and
visiting conferences. The rooms will serve up to 430 dining guests and
scores more in meeting settings. All conference rooms will have
technology to enable video conferencing and presentations.
The construction will not halt the upcoming summer conference schedule
on campus. Conference Services will contact customers to relocate
already scheduled 2006-2007 events in the Union. To contact Conference
Services, call 260-982-5551 or 877-MC-GUEST.
Donor naming opportunities remain for the College Union. For more about
giving to Manchester College projects and its endowment: 888-257-2586 or
www.manchester.edu |
