The University has selected names for its two new dining centers for fall 2011.
The new dining center near McDonald residence hall will be named The Oaks to honor the University’s century trees.
“The land given to us was a city park that was just filled with oaks, many of which are still here,” said University President Carol Cartwright. “That’s what sparked the idea.”
The new center on the former Commons site will be named Carillon Place, after the nearby Carillon Bell Tower donated by the University’s class of 1978.
Sheri Stoll, chief financial officer, and Steve Krakoff, associate vice president for capital planning and design, made the announcement at Friday’s Board of Trustees meeting.
“Similarly to Falcon Heights and Centennial, we went through a process to connect with a variety of constituents to get names and suggestions,” Stoll said.
Stoll emphasized that the University could possibly add to either name in the future if the right opportunity arises.
“If we should have a donor at some point in the future, their name could still accompany it,” she said.
The Board chose the new names for the dining centers to make record keeping easier, Stoll said.
“The Commons Dining recently demolished was the second Commons, and it can become challenging to keep track of what buildings come online and when, so we decided it was time to select a different name and not reuse it for the third time,” she said. “We also can’t use McDonald Dining again because the existing McDonald Dining is going to stay online for some time as a building, either for swing space or for storage.”
The Oaks and Carillon Place are both on schedule to be completed by fall 2011.
Board approves partial demolition of McDonald East
A segment of McDonald East residence hall will be demolished as part of the residence hall master plan approved by the Board of Trustees.
Construction will begin this summer and 200 feet of the wing will be demolished. Approximately 270 beds will be removed.
The project will cost $1.5 million, half funded through Dining Services and half through Residence Life.
“Last summer we brought a request to take down a portion of the west wing of McDonald and this is now the companion piece to that,” Stoll said.
The demolition will provide room for a green space to interconnect the northwest corner of campus. It will also make McDonald more compact and “conducive for incoming freshman,” she said.
The remaining portion of the residence hall will also be renovated. It will cost more than $1 million of the Board’s series 2010 funds.
“This is some initial renovation that needs to occur, which includes the west elevators and window replacement, but it’s also going to include some planning studies for what may need to come next,” Stoll said. “We aren’t anticipating doing a complete gut, but we can get enough upgrades in there so it could serve students better. It doesn’t necessarily meet the standards we have for students today.”
Future upgrades may include fire alarms, electricity, east elevators and exterior landscaping.
“We’re going to look at [McDonald] every three or four years in line with what’s happening with enrollment,” Krakoff said. “We’re going to put money in it to keep this in our portfolio for some time. We’re not going to overspend, but we want to provide as quality of an environment as we can for the remaining years that this building is part of our offering.”
