Work in progress

Students have become familiar with the construction sites lining 10th and Third streets, as well as Fee Lane.

In these locations, new buildings, including an update to Kelley School of Business, a new Jacobs School of Music Faculty Studio Building and a new softball field, are emerging from the rubble.

Students living in Forest Quad and Read Center are especially familiar with the construction, having lived around it for the entire year.

Linda McCoy, manager of planning for Woodland Centre dining hall, said it will be worth it in the end.

Two of the projects being built near Forest and Read include Woodland
Centre, the dining hall within Forest, and Rose Avenue residences, the newest residence center on campus.

Woodland Centre
Woodland Centre is going to be an extensive dining hall, different than any of the other neighborhoods on campus, said Chris Frank, Residential Programs and Services marketing manager of dining halls.

“We’re in the midst of doing lots and lots of planning. There’s nothing like it on campus,” Frank said. “It’s going to have nine different microrestaurants.”

The nine restaurants at Woodland will include A Cut Above, which will offer quality cuts of fish and meat; Fusion, which will offer a rotation of international cuisine; The Stone Grill, which will offer unique and classic burgers; Bloomingberry, which will serve high-probiotic frozen yogurt; and The Round, which will offer a full espresso bar. 

“We have chefs dedicated to recipes right now,” McCoy said. “And we’re really excited about it.”

During a meeting with the Forest Student Governors last week, some of the ideas were shared with students who have been living near the construction. Some of the students were allowed to sample a few of the baked goods that will be offered next year. 

“Forest students should be able to try the food and see that it will be worth it to go through the water stuff,” McCoy said.

Freshman Emma Meyer said she likes what she’s tried so far. 

“As a permanent proxy for the RPS Meal Plan Committee, I’ve gotten to try more than just the pastries that we had at our FSG meeting last week, so I can personally say that Bloomingberries is going to be really good, as well as The Round,” she said in an email. “Everything I’ve tasted from the new venues has been very delicious.”

Due to the construction, there have been several reported problems in the Forest residence towers, including water and power outages. Another power outage is scheduled for today, according to posts on Forest’s Facebook page and posters in the main lobby. 

Even though Forest residents are currently missing out on the benefits of the new dining hall, many said they’re still excited for what is to come. 

“I thought that the plans looked really good,” Meyer said. “There is going to be so much seating and different foods and restaurants to try which is really exciting, and it all looks really nice.”

Rose Avenue Residence Hall
Rose Avenue is currently being built behind Forest. The construction is scheduled to be completed in July after almost a year and a half of work. The goal is the have the 155,000-square foot living space open in fall 2013 for new residents.

Rose Avenue, according to a press release, is a 21 Century Project and an initiative by the Association of College and University Housing Officers International to develop campus housing that provides unique, functional and technologically advanced living experiences. 

“The Rose Avenue residence is designed to build community,” University Architect for IU-Bloomington  Ben Richardson said. “We want a diverse range. It’ll attract freshmen and sophomores, but hopefully juniors and seniors as well.”

The plans for the residence hall is projected to cost $38 million and will include a mix of different rooms, according to a press release. There will be double-occupancy rooms where up to eight residents share a bathroom, single semi-suite rooms with shared bathrooms and single rooms with single bathrooms. The building as a whole will be able to house 450 students, which will help alleviate the need for space. When Briscoe Quad was redesigned to include more singles, room for housing more students was lost, Richardson said.

“We lost room numbers when we redesigned Briscoe,” Richardson said. “And we needed to replace the number of rooms.”

The goal for Rose Avenue is to be a sort of “dorm of the future” where students can foster a much better sense of community than in other dorms, Richardson said.  
“The designs on whole were based on four principles,” he said. “Community, sustainability, technology and flexibility.”

Community will be fostered through smaller floors and open spaces, as well as lounges and study rooms on every floor, according to a press release. As for sustainability, the building is being built to conform to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification requirements, just as Woodland Centre will, according to a press release. 

As for food, there will only be a café located in Rose Avenue, so residents will have to rely on buildings around them, such as Forest, Read Center and Wilkie Quad, according to a press release.