Construction for the new East Campus Student Center, which is scheduled to open in Fall of 2012, will begin in January, Boston University officials said.
President Robert Brown broke ground for the center, which will be located at 100 Bay State Road, on Dec. 3.
BU Spokesman Colin Riley said a brownstone located next to the parking lot will be demolished before construction begins.
According to a BU announcement from April, the six-story building will serve as East Campus’ primary dining facility.
The center will also have College of Arts and Sciences advising services for freshmen and sophomores.
Kimberly DelGizzo, the director of BU’s Career Services, said she thinks the new student center will increase student traffic to their advising services.
“I believe the new student center will be an exciting and vibrant hub of activity,” she said. “It will provide a range of rich resources for students, in addition to housing a tremendous dining facility.”
The new facility is designed to draw students to these essential services early in their college years, according to BU’s April announcement.
“The [Educational Resource Center], the central career center and the CAS advising offices that are moving to the new building are all in the business of supporting student success,” DelGizzo said. “The ERC and our office are partnering to provide students with resources for successfully navigating their academic experience and for positioning themselves for the future.”
“We want to help students to maximize their time here, in preparation for lives of fulfillment and success,” DelGizzo added.
Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore said BU has already begun meeting with student groups such as presidents of The Towers, Shelton Hall and Myles Standish Hall residences.
“We are discussing the possibilities for the new space,” Elmore said.
Some students said they would miss the East Campus dining halls.
CAS freshman Sarah Blair, who lives in Towers, said she will miss “the smaller, more personal nature of the dining halls” in East Campus.
“I don’t really think the new student center is necessary,” she said. “We’re already close enough to the GSU and I don’t like the idea of tearing out existing dining halls.”
Riley said students should not worry about construction disrupting daily life.
“We’ve had lots of construction in the last 20 years, but we’ve learned to keep disruption minimal,” he said.
Riley said he does not expect any change in the amount of student jobs in dining services once the construction is completed.
“Essentially what we’re creating is a short term construction project, but after that, we’ll be bringing in existing units from offices around campus,” he said.
The $50 million construction will continue BU’s trend of green development, Riley said.
Architecturally, the building is designed to fit in with both the modern style of Kenmore Square and the more classical, brick style of Bay State Road, he said.
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Great to hear this is breaking ground and bringing new and needed amenities to East Campus. The architectural rendering is promising, and it seems BU is moving in a better direction, one that emphasizes quality over quantity. BU was smart to hire Bruner Cott Architects for this project, they have a lot of experience with collegiate buildings, and while they may be more expensive, I think the long term results of uses better skilled architects and better building materials will outweigh the initial cost.