FARMINGTON – A new dining area at the University of Maine at Farmington’s Olsen Student Center will open this week. Replacing the cramped snack bar on the student center’s first level, the new establishment includes new furniture, flat screen televisions, two fireplaces and gigantic murals of Franklin County.
UMF planners hope the $2 million renovation, undertaken by Sodexo, the UMaine System’s new food service provider, will be a hit with students, staff and residents alike. It also represents the first step along a 20-year path of proposed renovation, construction and reimagining at the UMF campus.
UMF President Kate Foster visited the new eatery following Thursday’s presentation of UMF’s master plan to the campus: students, faculty and staff members. Entitled “Make No Little Plans,” the plan is proposed to take the university through 2037. Among its many proposed projects: three buildings razed, another three constructed, the creation of a residential village, an arts quadrangle and a renovated campus center, improved athletic fields and, working jointly with the town, street projects impacting South, Lincoln and Perkins.
It’s a big, far-reaching plan that Foster, who describes herself as a planner by training, readily admits may see significant change before each aspect is implemented. One of the more immediate issues that planners approached, however, was how to make better use of the student center. UMF’s population was largely traditional and residential, Foster noted, therefore the university needed to work to improve the student center and residential halls.
“We are always chipping away at the campus,” Foster said. “Everything is a work in progress.”
In July 1, 2016, Sodexo took over food services for the entire UMaine system, with the exception of the Orono campus which maintains its own, in-house system. Part of that five-year contract was to refurbish the UMF snack bar, which was squeezed into the first floor, between the old university bookstore and the student center’s external walls, which face the Roberts Learning Center. In addition to scarcely having enough space to order food, much less eat it, the old snack bar had issues with its lighting, its floors and its lack of seating.
The bookstore moved to the Look House in 2013, allowing contractors to knock down the intervening wall and more than double the effective space of the snack bar. There’s more space to cook at the grill station, and Sodexo has added a natural foods bar that will serve smoothies and juices. There’s also a coffee station and a convenience store section where customers can buy things to go.
New seating has been installed, arranged in pods around flatscreen television sets and two fireplaces. The TVs are wireless capable and students will be able to use them to display classwork for study sessions. One of the walls is entirely made up of floor-to-ceiling murals: photographs of Franklin County taken by local photographer Scott Landry.
The snack bar looks out on Roberts Learning Center and its quad, connected to the space via three doors and a number of large windows. The master plan calls for the creation of an outdoor cafe there, as well as a redesign of the space to allow for better circulation and interaction between students. A large planter would be redesigned to open the space up more, while a service access section would be screened off.
The Olsen Student Center has already seen some recent improvements, including new lights and some upgrades to the North Dining Hall. In the future, Foster envisions bringing the bookstore back to the building, creating a central social, dining and commerce hub for the university. Planners see this as critical for a centralized, largely residential student population.
In total, the master plan includes approximately 10.5 years-worth of projects. Recommended by a number of different consultants, the long-range plan includes between $47 million to $69 million-worth of projects, spread out over 20 years.
Might I respectfully suggest in all this planning for the future,that the college look at possibly putting up a multilevel garage somewhere for students and faculty as well as visitors. Parking is becoming a real issue for the downtown economy.
Just a short while ago the university system was in fiscal crisis and cutting faculty and staff jobs. Now there’s a plan to spend up to 69M at UMF with no mention of improving education, just aesthetics and comfort. Apparently the cuts that were made previously were all in the economics department.
AMEN, JEANNE
YES! A parking garage on campus would do wonders for this town.
Maybe slowly doing away with the Scott Hall Dorms to alleviate the flow of people crossing Main Street without activating the flashing lights, or making eye contact, or acknowledging the automobiles on the street who have to be on edge in that area. I understand they are taught to do those three things to be better citizens of the campus. And, yup, forget taking over South Street. It’s been tried again and again.
Congratulations on this first move in a new renovation plan, bringing UMF into the 21st century. The cafeteria and snack bar are absolutely gorgeous with high-tech additions and a little glitz and glamour. Great ideas!
Congratulations on this first move in a new renovation plan, bringing UMF closer to the brink of economic collapse. While gorgeous I can’t help but echo Captain Planet, seems like it was just yesterday that there was a financial crisis at UMF but now we’re spending millions on….snack bars? How about lowering tuition costs? Housing costs? Etc? Well at least the students will be able to chrome-cast their phones to the new flat screens while going into years of debt…
Jeanne et al – where is there a parking issue downtown? Faculty/staff park on the campus for the most part, and downtown has multiple lots with plenty of options. Not seeing the need?
I’m at a loss to understand some of these comments. UMF needs to be attractive to potential students in order to compete. Right now, many aspects need upgrading, and that will make it a more viable campus in the long run. This is why every business, university, school, sports stadium, etc., has upgrades – they are necessary over time. Otherwise students will go elsewhere. Letting the infrastructure decay would be more costly in the long run.
I think a parking garage would be ugly – exactly what UMF doesn’t need, and contrary to the character of Farmington. I never have trouble finding a parking place down town or on campus. It may not be right next to where I’m going, but everything is within a five minute walk. Yet I don’t want to discount those who consider parking a problem – perhaps they’ve had experiences different than my own. But I don’t think a parking ramp is the solution.
Thank you, Scott.
Scott, I always thought that academics were first and foremost. Of course ” looking good ” is important from a sales standpoint. But if the money isn’t available maybe it wouldn’t be prudent. Of course it will be said that it doesn’t come from ” us “. It has become the modern day chant, spend, upgrade, big screen…etc.
As a former UMF student (1987-mid 90’s) I would say that any upgrades done to the student center are long over due, I have to add that I thought the article said the new contract for the food serves called for the remodel it didn’t say who paid what parts of the bill, Now as to the complaint about parking being valid as someone who regularly drives down High street I would say there is indeed a pressing need for better parking as we have in the recent past lost part of if not all of several parking lots in the area of the Student Center, The other big thing to remember before complaining about the costs is that this plan is to be spread out over many many years (20 year plan)
If you read the article carefully, you’ll see that only 2 million has been spent, and ALL of that by Sodexo…as per the business agreement they signed.
Pretty smart….getting someone else to pay!
Billyjoebob, A restaurant may have the food foremost, but they know that if they don’t have the facilities people won’t come, even if the food is fantastic. I think upgrades and improvements is the story of the United States – it’s been going on constantly.
Hopefully we can all get behind positive developments at UMF. Without the university, this town would be another Rumford, Madison, Millinockett…..you get the picture. And if students from around the US and other countries are going to continue to come, UMF must compete with big money institutions. Doing maintenance and upgrades demonstrates responsibility. Thanks UMF – I love to live in a thriving town!
The snack bar is open to the public, so go check it out and grab a bite to eat. It’s a beautiful space and the food looks great! The Naturals Bar is top notch!