July 7, 2005
Visitor Center occupants moving
Occupants of the current Visitors Information Center will be scattering before fall quarter as plans proceed to demolish the building, making way for a new building on the site.
According to Denis Martynowych, principal planner, in the Capital and Space Planning Office, the Visitors Information Center itself will be moving to the old poster shop near By George on Thursday, September 1. Center Director Brian Richards has arranged with Parking Services to have short term parking for visitors in the Central Parking Garage during the time the center is in that location.
Other occupants of the visitors center building have a variety of destinations, Martynowych said. The Office of Commencement Exercises is moving to Building 29 at Sand Point, the Office of Public Records and the Rules Coordination Office are moving to 4046 12th Avenue N.E., and Trademarks and Licensing is initially moving to Publications Services. Commencement’s move is likely to be in early August and the others will move in September.
Commencement will remain at Sand Point permanently. The Office of Public Records has tentatively been assigned to Schmitz Hall. The Rules Coordination Office, Trademarks and Licensing and the Visitors Information Center will be housed in the new building, which will also be home to Educational Outreach.
Martynowych said there will soon be a proposal on the table to expand the Visitors Information Center to include a “welcome center.” This would mean a large information rich lobby that makes a good gathering place for launching campus tours. Adjacent to the lobby would be a meeting room where visitors could see an orientation video or other promotional media. It would also include a galley kitchen for the serving of refreshments.
“The provost has asked us to identify what the costs would be for such a plan,” Martynowych said. “The idea is for the University to be more gracious in welcoming visitors.”
The Capital and Space Planning Office will be submitting a proposal on the welcome center to the provost this summer.
According to Brian Berard, manager of program operations in the Capital Projects Office, the current Visitors Information Center Building is slated to be demolished in November or December. Work on the new building should begin in late December or early January. Anticipated completion is May, 2007.
