Philip Vukelich | Argonaut
James Bilyeu, left, and Zena Lunsford study in the newly remodeled second floor of the Student Union Building Monday night. Construction of the second floor student louge was completed over winter break, while the Gold, Sliver and Chief rooms remain under construction.
The gold paint has dried, the furniture is out and after six months of construction and more than a decade of saving, the second floor of the University of Idaho Student Union Building is open to students. The second floor now includes a new multipurpose room, relocated restrooms and Vandal themed décor and furniture.
UI students are already noticing the difference.
“I like the open layout, it feels much less claustrophobic than it did before,” said Brooke Jacobson, a rangeland and ecology management major.
Greg Tatham, assistant vice provost for student affairs, said it was clear that the second floor of the SUB was run-down and needed to be renovated.
“It was tired, it was an old space. It had not been renovated in many, many years,” Tatham said.
Mark Miller, associate director of operations, said the conference rooms had not seen any major renovations since 1936, when the SUB was constructed.
Miller said they turned the three conference rooms and the restrooms on the South end of the building into one large multi-purpose room called the Vandal Ballroom. He said the Vandal Ballroom can be split into two conference rooms for smaller meetings if needed.
Tatham said the University of Idaho needed a multi-purpose room that could fit around 250 people for a variety of events from fundraising dinners to department meetings.
Tatham said larger restrooms were constructed on the West side of the floor, as the old restrooms were not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and were deteriorating.
“For somebody my age, I almost needed a block and tackle to get me up off those seats because they were so low to the ground,” Tatham said.
Tatham said $1.5 million for the renovation came from five years of saving money in his budget, and a loan from the Vandal Strategic Loan Fund, UI’s internal loan program. He said he will be able to pay back the loan with the Herbert E. and Vaughan Prater Latting Endowment, given to the Idaho Commons and Student Union.
“Rather than wait for another two or three years, I applied for a loan based on paying it back with the Latting endowment money, so I could get this project done now, and the university could benefit from it now,” Tatham said.
Miller said the construction process, which started in mid-July, was delayed a couple of weeks due to asbestos abatement, which raised the cost of the renovation.
Tatham said the cost of asbestos removal was higher than projected, causing him to again use the Vandal Strategic Loan Fund to purchase new furniture for the lounge.
Tatham said the second floor remodel is one part of a long-term plan to renovate the entire SUB. He said the first floor and the SUB Ballroom were renovated in 1998 and 2009 respectively. He said his next goal is to renovate the Borah Theater on the second floor, and student media on the third floor.
Tatham said the dividers that split the Vandal Ballroom into three rooms will not be available for use in the first few weeks of the semester because of a shipping delay.
Ryan Tarinelli can be reached at [email protected]