A city committee on Monday night unanimously approved phase one of a plan to renovate the Memorial Union, a proposal that comes a month after a previous plan to renovate the Union was voted down by just 23 votes in the Associated Students of Madison fall elections.
At the Joint Southeast Campus Area Committee meeting, Union Director Mark Guthier said he immediately pursued an alternative plan after the initial rejection.
“We were first aware that the shape, design and size was something that not everyone liked at a conference this summer,” Guthier said. “We knew that we might need an alternative.”
The new plan for the 83-year-old Union will include three major projects: a straightening of the lakeshore, a renovation of the Memorial Union building and the funding of an “Alumni Park” between the Red Gym and the Union where a parking lot currently sits.
Ed Freer, one of the project’s lead planners and spokesperson for JJR Consulting, said developers would “take a parking lot and make paradise” in the planned park adjacent to the Red Gym.
Freer also explained he was not worried about the loss in parking. Helen C. White parking would be reformatted to accommodate the loss in spots, and he said he believed there would be enough parking in the area surrounding the Union.
One of the main goals of the renovation is to make the Union more accessible. The current proposal includes fewer stairs to give wheelchairs greater access to the building.
Del Wilson, spokesperson for Lein & Wilson Architects, said fewer stairs in front of the building would improve views of the lake.
Expansions would also be made to Hoofers, which would have two levels with stairs and accessible paths. Additional rehearsal space would also be added to the theater.
The planners also hope to make the Union more convenient for students with the addition of more bike parking.
“Bicycle parking will be moved and we will actually gain bicycle parking – overall parking will increase by 140 bicycles,” Freer said.
Renovations to the Union Theater will be greatly different than the proposal brought before ASM in the fall elections. The theater will be pulled off the lake, and the lakeside windows will be similar to those currently in the cafeteria on the east side of the building.
“The new enlarged terrace space allows for the sunset to be seen over Picnic Point, something impossible now,” Alan Fish, associate vice chancellor for facilities at the University of Wisconsin, said. “We have pulled back the Union, to integrate better into the design of the Union. This is one of those times where debate allowed for a better result.”
Pending necessary approval, the renovations to the theater will be completed in July 2014. The “Alumni Park” would be completed in the summer of 2016, and the final renovations would be done sometime in 2017.
The next step for the Memorial Union will come on Dec. 5 when the proposal goes before the Landmarks Commission. The other two phases of the Union renovation will have to come back before the Joint Southeast Campus Area Committee for separate approval.
“We are optimistic this will go through review,” Fish said.
