HUNTINGTON, Ind. (FDN) — The Huntington Union Building, known on Huntington University’s campus as the HUB, will be completely shut down next academic year for major renovations.
“My hope is obviously that this place will be a destination for students, faculty, and staff,” said Dr. Ron Coffey, vice president of student life at HU. “This will be the central gathering place for everyone and there will be services they will need to utilize, but beyond that, it’s just a place where there is a lot of great human connection that takes place in a result of creating seating areas and creating a space for people to connect.”
Coffey said that even though this building will be shut down next year, students will still be able to enjoy the dining opportunities that this building has to offer.
“We will be bringing the concepts [from the HUB] over to the dining commons,” Coffey said. “What that does allow us to do however, is if we decide, or if student input decides, that we want to have a grill option, grilled chicken breast, burgers, we could actually change that by the week. So for after-hours dining, meal exchange, those options are there for us to look at.”
Sophomore Kristen Borntreger is excited to see what the HUB will look like but says the shut down will be difficult.
“I think if they shut it down for an entire year it should probably be fine as long as they extend the DC hours to accommodate that for people that can’t have a certain meal at a certain time,” said.
But she thinks she and her friends may spend more time when the HUB gets completed.
“I think this would be a good place for friends to hang out when they aren’t doing homework or even to do homework I think it would be a nice environment,” said.
Still wondering where the bookstore and other student services will be next year?
“The large board room in the library will be where the bookstore will be housed. The ACE, Academic Center for Excellence, is being moved to the second floor of the library and that will be its permanent home,” said Coffey. “When the ACE moves, after commencement, Student Life, ERC, counseling, and career services will all move to the vacated ACE space on the first floor of Loew Brenn.”
Coffey said the plans displayed in the lower HUB are not the newest plans that have been drawn up. Something new includes an indoor/outdoor gas-lit fire pit. One half of the pit will be on the inside of the HUB and the other half will be on the outside. That way, students can enjoy the feature from two different settings. In addition, many walls will also be torn down on the first floor to make for a more open-concept area.