Wednesday, November 17, 2004 5:12 PM
 

There have been many times in the last five years when I didn't think I would ever get to send this update - I am very excited to be actually sending it!!!

 

THE GROUNDBREAKING CELEBRATION for the Loker Student Union Expansion/Renovation is scheduled for Thursday, December 2, 2004!

 

As many of you know, the planning for the expansion/renovation of the Loker Student Union has been underway since 2000. With the passage of the student referendum in 2001, financial plans, architectural plans, "value engineering" plans, fundraising plans, furniture plans, and staffing plans have been our focus. Those plans were complicated by a fire and a flood, economic realities, and "unforeseen conditions". However, all of the years of planning by many individuals is finally coming to fruition. The project was put to competitive bid in late September, and last week bids from four contractors opened with bids that were within our "financing capacity". S.J. Amoroso was selected as the successful bidder (some of you may remember they are the contractor that built Welch Hall). Yesterday, the final hurdle was cleared when the Board of Trustees voted to approve the sale of bonds to support construction! The contract will be finalized in the next few weeks and construction should begin just after the first of the year. We are moving forward!

 

Now that these pieces of the project are coming together, we can finalize other pieces. The closure of the current facility, announced earlier this semester, will happen at the end of the academic term (December 17). The Office of Student Life, Associated Students, Inc., the Loker Student Union Administrative Offices (including Toro Productions) and the Campus Dining Offices will begin the process of packing their operations and moving things not needed during the temporary operation to storage. Plans are being completed for the offices to be relocated to available campus space by the beginning of the Spring 2005 Semester. Watch for an update coming soon with details of our new locations and hours of operation.

 
Probably the most impactful and most complex changes necessitated by the closure will be the relocation of campus dining, the shortage of meeting rooms and the absence of a place to congregate and hang out. While we will never be able to replicate the spaces that having a facility affords us, we are working hard to ensure that we continue providing as many options as possible. A plan has been developed to address those areas and services which we believe provides a solid starting point and is flexible enough to allow adjustments as we experience the reality. We will be communicating those details in a separate e-mail in the next few days.

 
In the meantime, we hope you will join Dr. Lyons, the Loker Student Union Board of Directors, Mrs. Loker, the CSUDH Foundation and others on Thursday, December 2, 2004, 1:30 p.m., on the North Lawn near the East Walkway. Look for the large tent - the entire University Community is invited to join us for the much-anticipated and long-awaited groundbreaking for a project we believe will transform the experience at CSU Dominguez Hills!

 
Watch us Grow...
 
Dr. Kim D. Clark
Director, Loker Student Union
CSU Dominguez Hills
310-243-3559