MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis-based Opus Northwest has been selected to build a new $66 million student center on the campus of the University of St. Thomas, a private Catholic university located in Minneapolis. The Anderson Student Center will be a three-story, 225,000-square-foot facility facing Summit and Cretin avenues. It will serve as a new location for student facilities currently housed within the Murray-Herrick Campus Center.
The lower level of the Anderson Student Center will contain retail restaurant space, a clothing and supplies retailer, and a convenience store. Recreation areas on the first floor will include pool tables and darts, a four-lane bowling center and a dance floor, table tennis and foosball tables, and flat-screen televisions. The second floor will contain a resident student dining center. The third floor will include a coffee and smoothie shop, a large multi-purpose room, a Hearth Room and 13 meeting rooms. The second and third floor of the facility will contain offices for the Division of Student Affairs, Campus Ministry, Auxiliary Services and student organizations.
“The student center will serve as a wonderful gathering place that will tie together our north and south campuses,” said Father Dennis Dease, president of the University of St. Thomas, in a statement. “It will help us as we further strengthen our co-curricular programming, which is vital to the overall development of our students. Additionally, it will serve as the living room — the heart of the campus — establishing a new physical identity for the university as the 'place to be,' enhancing and encouraging students to get to know each other better; learn from each other; and build bridges across cultures.
The project, which is scheduled to break ground in May, will be applying for LEED-Silver certification. Completion is slated for December 2011. Opus Northwest is the general contractor, and Opus Architects and Engineers is the architect of record. Assistance is being provided by Boston-based architecture firm Shepley Bulfinch.
The Anderson Student Center marks the 23rd building Opus has constructed for St. Thomas University since 1959. Opus currently has another project under way at the school — the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Center — which is scheduled to open in August.
— Coleman Wood