Facelift for 7th Street Underground about to start

By: Lauren Moore/ Student Government Editor

Posted: 12/2/05

The renovation of 7th Street Underground will begin within the next three weeks.

Student Body President Ryan Berger expressed his excitement about the project getting underway at Wednesday night's Student Senate meeting.

Phase one of the process will total approximately $100,000, Berger said.

"I'm extremely excited," Berger said. "The vice president of student affairs has told me not to worry about using student fees. Dr. (Daniel) Nadler and other executives are doing everything they can to not use student funds to do this project."

Although the project will begin with the painting of the ceiling and pipes, much more is involved in the first steps of the renovation. Phase one consists of building the carpeted loft, which will be the first of what could be three phases, Berger said.

"For the carpeted loft, we will have the ceiling that is currently a dark hunter green painted black, the piping painted an aluminum color, the walls will be an 'EIU gray,' but the brick will remain," Berger said.

Installation will include two flat-screen TV's, domes that serve as sound localizers to keep noise from the televisions to a minimum, gray carpeting, aluminum handrails, a computer area with stainless steel tables, black walls and built-in lighting with wireless connections for laptop users and - Berger's favorite - a place where art students can showcase their work.

"We still need to create a formal system on how to rotate the artwork, but there will be two main spaces," Berger said. "Any students can contact me if they are interested in displaying their work."

Despite the amount of work being done during phase one, Berger said it won't affect any scheduled events at 7th Street Underground.

He said he believes with these new renovations, 7th Street Underground will become a place Eastern students will want to be.

"We are using the ideology 'if you build it, they will come,'" Berger said. "With the technology and entertainment in phase one, we believe students will want to come and use the space."

Berger said so far there have been no major problems with the preparations for the renovation.