LSU plans "Union Square"
“We want to make the center of campus feel like a 24-hour ... epicenter of the university.” LSU Chancellor Michael Martin
LSU’s Jason Tolliver envisions the middle of LSU campus — “Union Square” — as a true “bar alternative” for students to enjoy a nice dinner, catch a play or concert and then hang out at a late-night cafe.
He sees area parents visiting campus with ease, thanks to the new LSU parking garage, shopping at the new Apple Retail Store and taking their kids to specific children’s reading areas within the two-story Barnes & Noble university bookstore.
All of these should open by the fall of 2013 without spending many LSU dollars not already committed to ongoing construction projects, said Tolliver, the LSU executive director for auxiliary services. He also took over operations of the LSU Student Union in October.
“We’re creating a very dynamic community in the heart of campus,” Tolliver said.
“It’s an exciting time on campus,” he said. “As much as we’re facing the very real situation of the economy and funding, we still have the obligation to provide a vibrant atmosphere on our campus because it’s essential to our survival.”
Tolliver sees the Union Square boundaries being formed by Dalrymple Drive, Tower Drive, East Campus Drive and South Campus Drive, with more regular concerts and events on the Parade Ground and the Faculty Club restaurant opening for dinner hours to students and the general public. Student tours would begin and end at the Square.
The project took a major step forward over a year ago with the delayed completion of the nearly $80 million expansion and renovation of the LSU Student Union and the connecting Union Theater.
Across the street from the Union this fall, LSU should open the five-floor, 750-vehicle parking garage. The connecting new university bookstore is expected to open in December with nearly twice the square footage of the existing bookstore in the Union, said Paul Stevenson, general manager of the LSU Bookstore.
Barnes & Noble also will have a coffee shop serving Starbucks, and indoor and outdoor plaza seating for nearly 100 people, Stevenson said. The bookstore also will connect to a new Apple Store, although the contract is still being finalized. Tolliver and Stevenson said they even plan to hang an old fighter plane from the bookstore ceiling to connect the facility to LSU’s “Ole War Skule” legacy.
When the bookstore finally is relocated, Tolliver said, the Union will have free space to open a new salon, optical shop, small dentistry office, video gaming area, 24-hour computer lab and the planned Olinde Career Center for career counseling, job interviews and more. Funding is coming through private donations and the self-generated revenues of the retailers.
LSU Student Government President Cody Wells said such retail and entertainment additions are needed at LSU.
“It’s something that’s missing from our campus life as a whole,” Wells said. “We need more stress-relieving events on our campus. Students go through the grind all day.”
The LSU bar and drinking scene “gets old” sometimes, Wells said, and most LSU undergraduates are not of legal drinking age anyway.
LSU Chancellor Michael Martin said he wants to keep the students on campus more and invite the general public over as well.
“I believe we’ve not been able to properly invite people to campus,” Martin said, largely because of the lack of public parking in the middle of campus. That problem is being solved in a few months.
“We want to make the center of campus feel like a 24-hour — or maybe 20 or 18-hour — epicenter of the university and all of student life,” Martin said.