By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The southern end of the Bowen-Thompson Student Union’s floor is getting renovated to make more room for brews — the caffeinated kind and the alcoholic kind.
The Bowling Green State University Board of Trustees today (Friday, Feb. 28) approved a $2.5 million project that will shuffle spaces on the first floor to give Starbucks more room.
The plan calls for moving Starbucks into the space now occupied by the Black Swamp Pub. The Pub will move into what is now the computer lab. The lab will then be relocated to the former Starbucks location.
Sheri Stoll, the university chief financial officer, said that the new space will allow Starbucks to expand and remedy the long lines the shop now experiences. It would also allow for online ordering and pick up.
As a franchisee, the university is responsible for keeping the space looking good. “All interior finishes need to be refreshed and replaced,” she said. That work was already scheduled to be done this summer, so the timing for the move is fortuitous.
The Starbucks franchise is a money maker for BGSU, bringing in about $1.2 million in 2019, Stoll said.
The Black Swamp Pub did good business when it first opened but trade has leveled off. The idea is to transform it into “a micro-brewery pub” that would also serve sandwiches and appetizers.
The move would also connect the pub to the back of house operations for the other food operations in the union. Now they are separated which limits what the pub can offer.
Stoll said they plan to feature beers brewed by BGSU grads, a number of whom have launched successful breweries.
Trustee Betty Montgomery questioned whether this would make the atmosphere “too delightful.”
President Rodney Rogers noted the pub already serves beer, wine, and spirits.
The new computer lab will have room for 45 stations, and two remote printers. The current lab has 69 stations.
“It’s had much less use than it did 10 years ago,” Stoll said. Students now have their own laptops.
Pressed by trustees, John Ellinger, the chief information officer, said there’s still a need. Many commuter students don’t bring their laptops to campus.
The campus will lose another lab with 50 stations when the College of Business moves over to the Maurer Center this summer.
The other computer lab is located in Jerome Library.
The new Starbucks will open before the fall semester. There will be no interruption in service. The new computer lab will be open at the end of the semester with the old lab continuing in operation. The pub will be closed during this time with construction of the new eatery beginning in January 2021, and opening early summer, 2021.
Trustees also approved spending $300,000 on architectural and engineering services to turn space on the second and third floor of the College of Business Annex into a nursing skills lab.
The architectural and engineering services usually amount to a tenth of the total project call, Stoll said.
The work will begin when the space is vacated as offices move to the Maurer Center. The plan is to have it completed by fall, 2021.
At this point the nursing program is spread across several buildings, Stoll said.
The facility will be used by all health professions, as well as by professionals seeking continuing education.
Trustees also approved changing the name of the building. Stoll said it was decided that was needed to avoid confusion when the College of Business is located in the Maurer Center.
The building will be called Central Hall, but Stoll made it clear that the name is a place holder.
She said the hope is that “there are naming opportunities more suitable than Central Hall.”
