CHARLES LAMBDIN, Reveille Radio News Reporter:
Pentagon community residents can expect a new common area by the end of the spring semester. Residential Life Communications Manager Jay High gives details about the renovations.
JAY HIGH (Residential Life Communications Manager): “The things that we are adding are a common area, a front desk, a renovated laundry facility, a computer lab, and three faculty offices.”
LAMBDIN: The renovations come after construction of the new 5 dining hall and Take 5, which closed the Mini-Mart and left the building in front of the Pentagon vacant.
HIGH: “With the new take-5 that’s part of the 5 dining hall, it was redundant to have a mini-mart that close; so that freed up the building space that we had been renting.”
LAMBDIN: As part of the renovations, the building was cleared out and improved to meet current building codes. According to Jay High, this action was necessary to repair the building.
HIGH: “The building was set up, there was a laundry facility in there already, it was in need of a renovation. A mini-mart doesn’t translate well to a common area so that space needed to be redone.”
LAMBDIN: Funding for the project comes from the budget of Residential Life and is not supported by the state or the University. Any work performed by Residential Life comes out of student rent or by selling bonds secured by the department’s business plan.
HIGH: “This is something that is done out of plant funds, this is like normal improvements. We have a certain amount in our budget that allows for improvements of certain buildings and things that needed to be done.”
LAMBDIN: The Pentagon community will finally join the remaining residence halls in having its own common area, allowing students to better enjoy dorm life.
Charles Lambdin, Reveille Radio News