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A brand new on-campus space for students is set to open up soon, providing a replacement for the long shut-down “Panther Place.”
Since last summer, the lounge space on the east side of Student Center West has been shut down. The closure came after little notice and led into the fall semester when students would have used the lounge the most.
More than half a year later, the third floor of Student Center West is still a construction zone. The hallway leading to the university’s bookstore has been boarded up, beaten down and gutted with little news on what the space was being turned into. After much anticipation, the cardboard barriers have finally been taken down, revealing a shiny newly renovated lounge and meeting area.
The space has gone through a complete makeover. While the lounge’s name is the same, it is nothing like the “Panther Place” lounge we’re used to. The lounge has new furniture, brand new carpeting and tilework and a much cleaner and brighter design. However, the changes are more than cosmetic.
The new lounge is now equipped with vending machines, microwaves, private workspaces and four “collaboration stations” for game playing, group projects or other collaborative activities. There is also a separate section of the lounge dedicated to quiet studying, which could relieve some of the crowdedness seen in other study areas on campus.
The lounge is also set to become a new home for many offices on campus. There have been talks about moving the university’s PantherCard and transportation offices to the new location, however, no official word has been put out.
This recent set of renovations isn’t the first time this area has seen substantial change. The space used to be known for having dining options like a Steak ‘n Shake, and a variety of university-run food vendors until it was shut down right before the pandemic. Since then, the dining options have yet to bounce back with a reopening, and looking at the concept plans for the new lounge it seems like they never will. However, despite its lack of food options, the space was still very popular.
The lounge has had a long history of being a space used by commuter students to reheat and eat their home lunches and hunker down in between classes to finish classwork.
“The old lounge was somewhere I went to often, and it’s been closed for a while,” said Sam Tolson, a third-year student who commutes to campus. “From what I’ve seen of the new location, it seems like an upgrade.”
No announcement has been made about a date for the lounge’s opening. The lounge has been reported to open sometime in early February.