Meet Me on MainStreet

MainStreet is:

Tangeman University Center

Construction began: May, 2001
Construction completed: March, 2004
Cost: $52.7 million
Space: 214,600 gross square feet (GSF) and 189,200 net square feet (NSF)
Design – Charles Gwathmey, Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects of New York, in collaboration with GBBN Architects of Cincinnati
Built in 1935, the old student union was showing its age. The new TUC has all the modern amenities, yet preserves the charm of TUC’s history with the clock tower and the old Greek Revival facade leading into the new, modern 90-foot atrium. Inside the renovated 189,000 square foot building is:

• UC Bookstore
• The 800-seat Great Hall
• MainStreet Cinema, a 200-seat movie theater in the north wing that offers regular and special movie screenings
• A 600-seat food court that has a Gold Star, Pizza Hut, Wendy’s, Freshens and a Tortilla Fresca
• Mick & Mack’s Contemporary Café
• Quick Mick’s Grab‘N’Go
• MainStreet Expressmart
• 24-hour banking
• Meeting and event rooms
• Quiet-space study lounge with wireless service
• Catskeller Game & Sports Lounge, featuring billards, video and Internet games, sportscasts, snacks and beverages.

Joseph A. Steger Student Life Center (SLC)

Construction began: February 2002
Construction completed: March 2004
Cost: $27.9 million
Space: 86,300 GSF and 72,700 NSF
Design – Buzz Yudell, Moore Ruble Yudell Architects and Planners of Santa Monica, in collaboration with local firm, glaserworks
This building was named among the world’s most notable building projects just this year by the most prestigious group in American architecture, the American Institute of Architects. UC recently requested certification of the Joseph A. Steger Student Life Center by the U.S. Green Building Council as the university’s first green building – a higher-performing, energy efficient building. The SLC houses student-centered offices and retail facilities, including:

• UC Center for Community Engagement
• Division of Professional Practice
• Ethnic Programs and Services
• Graduate Student Association
• Office of Judicial Affairs
• Student Activities and Leadership Development
• Office of Student Life/Dean of Students
• Student Government
• UC Women’s Center
• Business on Main – a computer, copy and photo processing center
• Computer Lab
• Starbucks
• Subway

Another part of the Steger Student Life Center is the Mews, a courtyard garden for quiet and reflection. The Mews features three column capitals from Beecher Hall, a building that was demolished to create the MainStreet corridor.

Swift Hall Renovation

Renovation began: January 2002
Renovation completed: September 2003
Cost:  $10.6 million
Space: 46,000 GSF and 39,900 NSF
Design – Moore, Ruble, Yudell, Architects & Planners and glaserworks
Renovation of the 46,000 square-foot hall included new architectural, mechanical and electrical systems as well as restorations of the 81-year-old building’s historic features. Swift Hall houses 18 state-of-the-art electronic classrooms that are fully equipped with “smart” audiovisual systems. The News Record (UC student newspaper); UC Honors Scholars Program; Pre-Professional Center and University Ombuds offices are also housed in the building.

Campus Recreation Center

Construction began: March 2003
Construction completed: January 2006
Cost: $112.1 million
Space: 410,600 GSF and 357,900 NSF
Design – Thom Mayne, Morphosis, in collaboration with local firm KZF Design, Inc. Mayne was named the 2005 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the most prestigious architecture award in the world.
The largest and most complex building of the MainStreet project, the Campus Recreation Center is generating national and international attention for its form and function. The Campus Recreation Center is a spectacular example of trends on college campuses to build multi-use, multi-function facilities and reflects the UC|21 strategic plan to define the new urban university by making the campus a 24-hour-a-day learning, living and social environment. In addition to the 224-bed, suite-style student housing in the facility, the CRC also houses:

• Six electronic classrooms
• Market on Main, a 4,000 square-foot convenience store
• CenterCourt, a 400-seat all-you-care-to-eat point of service restaurant with a brick oven for specialty pizzas, fresh-baked breads and a Mongolian grill. Above CenterCourt, the 180-seat Stadium View Café offers lunch fare and overlooks Nippert Stadium.
• A magnificent recreation facility that offers memberships to those living in the Cincinnati USA community. The Campus Recreation Center has eight racquetball courts, a 50-meter lap pool; leisure pool (with lazy river, water wall, bubble couch and vortex); whirlpool; more than 200 cardio and fitness machines; suspended four-lane walking/jogging track; six-court gymnasium; 40-foot climbing wall and bouldering wall; three multipurpose rooms; warm-up/stretching area; and juice bar.

MainStreet Infrastructure

Construction began: September 2000
Construction completed: November 2002
Cost: $21.5 million
Underground mechanical, plumbing and electrical utilities and communication systems to support new construction and replace aging infrastructure.

Open Space

Construction began: September 2002
Construction completed: September 2005
Cost: $22.1 million
Design: Hargreaves Associates, in association with glaserworks
Outdoor touches that include pavers, walks, landforms, landscaping (including a corridor of 50 ginko and 50 maple trees between CRC and SLC), irrigation, granite steps and lighting. One of the open spaces drawing the crowds is Bearcat Plaza, surrounded by TUC, SLC and Nippert Stadium. The granite seat walls and pedestrian walkways create a sense of a place “to see or be seen.”

The majority of the cost of the MainStreet project is paid for by student fees and the rest is supported by state funding, gifts and rent.

Two other projects anchoring the MainStreet corridor, but not included in the MainStreet construction funding, are:

University Pavilion & Plaza

Construction began: January 2001
Construction completed: December 2002
Cost: $32 million
Space: :106,200 GSF and 93,100 NSF (Pavilion only)
Design – Leers Weinzapfel Associates and GBBN Architects
Before this building was erected, students were inconvenienced with what they called the “UC shuffle,” walking from building to building to conduct student business such as paying a bill, registering for class, dropping a class or applying for financial aid. This stop in the heart of campus “effectively took the shoe leather out of getting services at the university,” says Mitchel D. Livingston, UC Vice President for Student Affairs and Services. Student service offices housed in the six-story building include Admissions, Financial Aid, Office of the Registrar, Student Accounts and Collections, the Student Success Center, Career Development Center, Educational Services, Cashier’s Office, Disability Services, Enrollment Management and the University Visitors Center. The One Stop Student Services Center, located on the second floor of University Pavilion, has cross-trained associates who can answer student questions about registration, records, financial aid and student accounts. Students can also post questions through the One Stop Web site.

This building also houses a number of administrative offices.

Jefferson Complex

Construction began: January 2001
Construction completed: September 2002
Cost: $39 million
Design: KZF Design, Inc.
Space: Turner Hall 161,100 GSF and 138,300 NSF
 Schneider Hall 71,200 GSF and 59,300 NSF

The first residence hall to be erected on campus since 1971, the complex – encompassing Turner and Schneider Halls – features suite-style housing and was designed largely on student input. As part of the MainStreet philosophy of blending living and learning on campus, Turner Hall holds a 40-person classroom.