East Campus Student Service Center construction approved

Boston University's proposed design for the East Campus Student Service Center has been approved, allowing the university to proceed with construction plans, the Boston Redevelopment Authority announced on Wednesday.

"It went through the process through BRA, we're very pleased with that," said BU spokesman Colin Riley. "There's still two steps to go. That's terrific."

The proposed facility will be located at 100 Bay State Road, according to the BRA report, and will cost $50 million.

The plan for the center puts the building near Shelton Hall in a six-story, 99,600 square-boot building.

Along with a dining facility located from the basement through the second floor of the building, the facility is planned to include a multi-function room, a coffee shop and an advising center.

The proposed dining facility will seat 900 people, according to an April 28 Daily Free Press article.

The fate of dining halls in East Campus dormitories remains uncertain.

According to the BRA report, construction is set to begin in 2011 and should create 150 construction jobs.

BU President Robert Brown said they hoped to have the facility "open and operative in September 2012" in last semester's Free Press article.

The new building will help to make more space in the College of Arts and Sciences, Brown added, because many of the resources in the East Campus Student Center are housed in CAS.

Centralizing the resources that Brown considers "essential student services" will also make them more visible to students, Brown hopes.

"What you'll find is. . . a modern facility with all the amenities in it and different kinds of places you can eat and different atmospheres in a large facility," Brown said in the article. "[A dining hall] that you can really keep open with a lot of variation in what you serve gives a lot of advantages."