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Vacant building space has uses
By Geoff Higgens
Vacant spaces on campus are not as abundant these days with Lawrence Hall joining the few buildings on the SCSU campus that are being renovated from empty space to useful assets.
Only two spots on campus are still without an official purpose: the old bookstore and the basement of Centennial Hall. Some people on campus think that these two buildings serve absolutely no purpose at all, and the land these buildings are sitting on would make for great parking lots.
But according to Jim Williams, director of Buildings and Grounds, the old bookstore is all but empty, and the basement of Centennial Hall is anything but useless. Williams said that the plans for the buildings are still pending.
"The future plans we don't know for sure," he said, but Williams also said the buildings are being used for many purposes.
The former bookstore building is currently being used as a place to relocate SCSU faculty and staff while work is being done in office buildings such as the top three floors of Centennial Hall. Williams described the old bookstore serving as a "safety place" for people to go while there is work still being done in Centennial Hall.
The old bookstore building has an advantage for students with academic needs as well. Williams said that the large open space of the building is being used by a group of people that are doing a wheelchair research project and need a large space to do so. "They don't have any space anywhere else on campus for that sort of thing," Williams said.
The former bookstore has also recently become valuable space for the Buildings and Grounds Department. Williams said that one of the big jobs that the Buildings and Grounds Department is working on right now is the replacement of carpet in residential life buildings and academic buildings. The empty space in the old bookstore has become a great place for the Buildings and Grounds Department to roll out and store the new carpet before it is installed.
The Centennial Hall basement may look empty, but what most people don't know is that the space located directly under the new bookstore is being used efficiently.
"We have extra storage space for merchandise and documents," said Ted Mears, Husky Bookstore store manager.
The Buildings and Grounds department does not have much use for the vacant half of the basement of Centennial Hall right now. The only things being stored in that area presently are light bulbs, but that is not the permanent fate of the empty half of the Centennial Hall basement.
"Centennial Hall is going to be renovated," Williams said.
One problem with the two buildings is that plans for the their futures are uncertain. The SCSU campus has changing needs throughout the year. Williams said the uncertainty of end results after renovations is another key factor for the future use of the two vacant spaces.
"What we start off to do with a building is one thing, what we end up with is something else," Williams said.
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