By Emily Rachelle Russell | Echo
Taylor plans to construct a new building to house the bookstore, print shop and campus mail room on the north side of Reade Avenue.
The buildings currently housing the print shop and campus post office were designed for short-term use in the 1980s and have been patched up over time, according to Vice President for Business and Finance Stephen Olson. They are in great need of repair, but those necessary repairs are not worth the money they would cost.
According to Special Assistant to the President Ron Sutherland, a new bookstore has been in the works for about nine months. Taylor realized the old Student Union, now called the Dome, is no longer the best location for the bookstore and started looking at alternative ideas for the store.
"There are two reasons for this project," Sutherland said. "(T)he current University Press and Campus Post Office facility is at the end of its useful life. . . . (And) the Campus Store no longer fits in the long term plans for the dome. We looked at these two facts and felt like creating a new space to house all three of these functions would be a good solution."
Stephen Richardson, the manager for the current Campus Store, will help implement the move and answer general questions about the project. He believes the new building will help add something to Reade Avenue and make the street more aesthetically attractive. It will also free up the current store's space in the Dome for the new plans Taylor has for that building.
Olson estimates the project will cost about $1.5 million, which will come from money Taylor has saved over time for building and repair needs. An exact price cannot be determined until design and material plans have been finalized. None of the funding will be borrowed; reserves for this kind of need have been built up on campus from the accumulation of operating margins over many years.
"Just like a person at home would save money for a roof eventually to be replaced, and things like that, we've done the same thing over time here," Olson said. "We've built up reserves on campus to deal with these types of things when and if we have to do them. . . . You could think of it like we're using some of our savings account."
The current plan for location is the vacant ground between Wolgemuth Hall and the current University Press and Campus Post Office building, according to Sutherland. A timeline for the project and the new store's opening have not yet been finalized.
