After more than a year of construction and renovation, school
officials say Saint Louis University’s new student union, the
Busch Student Center (BSC), formerly the Busch Memorial Center
(BMC), will be open in time for students returning to campus at the
end of the summer.

Student Development’s business manager, Maria Hein, said
the school has set Aug. 11 as the date by which all dining
facilities and most retail stores will be functioning and
accessible to students. Both Hein and Vice President of Student
Development Kathy Humphrey say the building will definitely be
completed by Aug. 20, when students will return.

“We will be ready when the students get here,” said
Humphrey, “and that was our ultimate goal.”
Since students left in May, the work that has been completed has
been mostly aesthetic. Clayco Construction has worked from the
third floor down to finish installing utilities and polishing the
building’s décor. Third-floor organizations moved into
their offices last week and the new Billiken Bookstore, located on
the second floor, opened to the public on Tuesday.

Crews are also finishing up landscaping on the building’s
west side and especially on the new amphitheater, located on the
northeast side of the ballroom, between the BSC and Ritter Hall.
Workers are also finishing what will be a circle drive on the
southwest corner of the building, at Grand and Laclede, as well as
a sheltered walkway between the BSC and Kelly Auditorium, to the
East.

Humphrey said the idea to convert the more than 40-year old
building into a facility that could truly serve students’
needs began at least five years ago, when students began telling
the school the BMC was outdated.

When the process of designing a new student center began, students
were incorporated in the process, Humphrey says, so the final
product would meet their requests. The Student Government
Association also formed a committee to participate in designing the
BSC.

“You’ll be able to tell how we’ve created it with
the students in mind,” Humphrey said. “The entire
building has a totally different feel to it. The BMC was pretty
lifeless.”

Humphrey said the name change itself is designed to reflect the
new focus of the building. Compared to student unions at other
colleges, the offices in the BSC are located on the upper floors,
leaving the more accessible lower levels for recreational, dining
and retail facilities. The offices themselves were also chosen
because they catered to student needs.

The admissions department, for example, which is often housed in
student unions, did not move to the BSC.

The main addition to the union is the new ballroom, which can seat
1600 people and can be partitioned into three, full-functional
multipurpose rooms. The St. Louis room, in the old BMC, could seat
only 600.

One of the reasons the ballroom was built was so the school would
have a single auditorium that could seat the entire freshman class,
which wasn’t possible before.

Another expansion the new building has allowed is that of the
bookstore, formerly housed in the first story of Wuller Hall. The
store now uses two floors, allowing it to sell text books in the
lower section and other books and Billiken paraphernalia in the
upper. Other improvements to the union include the addition of a
dry cleaners and laundry, a florist, a salon, a bodega, which will
replace the C-Store, a café and a rec club. The coffee shop
will have a Bread Co.-like atmosphere, Humphrey said, and will be
open until 3 a.m.

The rec club, dubbed the Billiken Sports Club, will feature fast
food and snacks as well as arcade- and rec room-style games. It
will also be equipped with a stage for performing artists or open
mic nights.