After nearly two years of construction, southside residents had the opportunity to preview the renovated Commons Lobby on Feb. 10.
The lobby will be open for prospective students during Aggieland Saturday. The commons has been under construction for the past year and a half and is slated to open with limited access hours in April.
New features include a community learning center, game room and an updated design and front entrance. The remaining work is the downstairs food court according to Dan Mizer, Senior Associate Director in the Department of Residence Life.
“I’m excited just watching students that have been in here and knew what it looked like before and seeing their mouths drop,” Mizer said. “You just envision this day, and it’s kind of like showing off your new house.”
Planning for the renovations started in 2010 and the commons will be open 24 hours a day seven days a week starting fall semester of 2017.
“I think people are going to see it and say ‘I could see myself living on this side of campus and using these facilities,’” Mizer said. “This building was outdated, kind of small and had a dungeony look to it.”
Engineering freshman and resident of Rudder Hall Evelyn Nieto said she wasn’t at A&M when the commons were open but that she had always heard it was a great hangout space.
“It was great for southside and especially engineering students to come and hang out, study and eat,” Nieto said. “I’m excited about the newness and the modern decor and the hard work that all the construction workers have been able to put in.”
David Luna, physics freshman who lives in Aston Hall, said opening the commons will give him a central meeting place closer to his dorm and classes.
“There are a lot of classes around here that are just chemistry, physics and engineering,” Luna said. “That’s basically who is going to come here, and maybe we can get a deeper network of science majors together.”
Mizer said although the construction may have been an inconvenience for on-campus students, the excitement around the completion of the project is great for current and future students.
“We lost a lot of meeting space [and] programming space because this building has been out of commision for close to two years,” Mizer said. “But I think people are going to say ‘I wish that would have been open when I lived over there or I would have stayed longer.’”
International studies sophomore and academic peer mentor Winston Johnson-Savoy said the proximity of a game room, learning center and dining center will only add to the on-campus living experience.
“It’s going to impact the experience of living on campus greatly because people are going to be able to walk outside their dorms [and] walk less than 500 feet into everything,” Johnson-Savoy said. “It’s just going to make the on campus experience that much more valuable.”
