Marshall Center due for a makeover

Residing near Maple Drive, a large aging building rests adjacent to the Special Events Center. This building is the hub of campus, where new and returning students alike will flock once the summer and fall semesters swing into full gear.

The Phyllis P. Marshall Center works as the student union on campus and plays host to a variety of campus organizations and functions. The USF Bookstore is located within the Marshall Center as well as Student Government and the Center for Multicultural Activities. New students will have the opportunity to see the building prior to the vast changes coming in the near future. Plans are underway for a new student union to be built where the Special Events Center presently resides.

Phase I of the plan includes the demolition of the SEC and will begin as early as January. “We’re going to take down the Special Events Center,” Director of the Marshall Center Guy Conway said in a previous interview. “And the first phase will be to construct a new building on that site.”

Once the SEC is demolished, Phase II will begin. Post-construction, the old Marshall Center will be renovated and combined with the new building. The food court will double in size as well as offer a Sports Grill and a Cyber Café. Many of the organizations that inhabit the Marshall Center will benefit from the additional office space.

“Phase II includes the new student activities theater, a restaurant (similar to Top of the Palms), a cyber café, more retail spaces and additional meeting and lounge space,” Conway said.

The provisional opening date for the new student union is set for March of 2008.