Fresno State discusses new student union building

Fresno State leaders hosted about 100 students, community members and staff on Tuesday to gather feedback on sweeping campus changes currently under discussion by the administration – most notably a new, state-of-the-art student union.

Vice president for student affairs Frank Lamas led the conversation, much of which centered around the proposed 100,000-square-foot building. Although referred to as a new student union, the space also would include a 10,000-square-foot training and meeting center for faculty, a 10,000-square-foot ballroom for events and about a dozen other rooms for various uses.

“It’s important that this new building work in synergy with the others,” Lamas said. “We want it to include things that aren’t in the current student union or the library.”

Lamas and Provost Lynnette Zelezny also fielded questions about issues that have plagued the campus for years: A lack of parking and classroom space, as well as upgrades to Bulldog Stadium.

Lamas started by sharing tentative plans based on a feasibility study. It was ordered after the administration concluded that a new student union was a high priority for Fresno State’s students and staff during previous forums held last fall.

Stantec, a national architecture firm specializing in higher education, spent the previous few months interviewing people around the campus and produced detailed renderings of a possible building on campus.

The specifics were posted to the university’s news website. That post notes that the current student union opened in 1968 and was designed to serve a campus of about 10,000 students. The current enrollment is about 24,000.

The new three-story building would be built across from the current student union and the Henry Madden Library, forming a triangle of large gathering spots at the center of the campus. The existing buildings in that space, which house the admissions outreach center and the university’s Taco Bell restaurant, would be demolished – something Zelezny said already is planned.

It also would extend into the campus’ parking lot, but Lamas stressed that only one row of spaces would be removed.

The plans are purely provisional – nothing about them are set in stone, Lamas and Zelezny stressed.

Because any actual building plans would require a bidding process and be subject to construction costs at least a year in the future, Lamas did not know how much the building would cost.

“If we would have built this two years ago, it would have been a $60 million building,” Lamas told The Bee before the forum.

Whatever the cost, it almost certainly would mean an increase in student fees. The university would make a fund-raising push, asking for sponsors in exchange for building naming rights. Much of the leftover costs would be added to student fees stretched across 20 or 30 years, Lamas said. Students would have the opportunity to vote on whether to approve these fees in a referendum next April.

Lamas said a best-case scenario, if the university decides to move forward with a new student union, would be to have it built in the next four or five years.

When asked about the lack of parking, the administrators pointed to the university’s new shuttle system as an example of how it’s dealing with that problem.

Parking is important, Zelezny said, but previous gauging of student sentiment led administrators to believe that a new gathering space that serves both students and faculty was a top priority. If building a parking structure needs to be a higher priority, she added, now is the time to let the administration know.

Another attendee asked if the university plans to renovate Bulldog Stadium, which opened in 1980.

“We’re being bold,” Zelezny said, drawing a huge laugh from the audience, referring to the slogan the university has adopted.

“(Fresno State) President (Joseph) Castro is going to have to talk to a lot of people,” Lamas added.

When asked about adding more classroom space, Lamas said that all of these key issues – classrooms, parking, stadium renovations and building plans – likely would be presented together in a capital campaign to potential donors. Those donors could then choose which endeavor they would like to support.

The administration also noted several ideas for the new space suggested by students and staff. A demonstration kitchen would help students learn to cook for themselves, one woman suggested. One student asked for a space for those working on technology startup companies – most of whom currently rent space from Bitwise in Fresno. Several professors recommended the campus update its long-forgotten outdoor amphitheater and put it to good use.

Another forum will be held on April 27, and anyone can offer feedback on the proposal’s website.

This story was originally published April 12, 2016 at 6:08 PM with the headline "Fresno State discusses new student union building."