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Alumni Association Home > Minnesota Magazine > Past Issues > 2003 > January-February 2003	Print View

Coffman is Better than Ever
1/23/2003

Maggie Towle (B.A. ’81), director of Twin Cities Student Unions at the University of Minnesota, is as proud as any homeowner would be to show off a top-to-bottom renovation—in this case, Coffman Memorial Union. Coffman Unions’s restorers have faithfully returned the structure—all 309,000 square feet of it—to its elegant 1940s glory while maximizing the historical building’s utility. I urge you to put a visit to Coffman Union on your to-do list for this new year.

Perhaps the most stunning transformation is on the ground level, where the dingy, old parking garage and other underused space is now a cheery, 60,000-square-foot area for students to gather and conduct the day-to-day business of being a busy University student. New on Washington Avenue is "The Cube," a glass structure near the Weisman Art Museum added as a welcoming entrance, especially for bus riders who have made this stop the second busiest in the metro area. Inside, the funky old garage pillars make an eye-catching architectural statement that nicely breaks up the huge space. "This level alone is larger than most student unions in the U.S.!’’ says Towle.

On this level visitors will find a post office, convenience store, coffee shop, print shop, deli, full-service bank, a 48,000-square-foot bookstore, a trio of fast-food choices, and a University dining facility outfitted with one of the largest, most high-tech kitchens in town. The Great Hall ballroom has been updated with restrooms and air conditioning. The ceiling’s domed lighting is wired for three different colors of lights, and the look of the former 1940s balcony has been re-created to complete the dramatic art deco effect.

One floor down, filled with game tables and snack bars, the basement will resume its role as the campus entertainment center. The bowling alley’s 14 lanes are updated with electronic scoring. And a new computer lab provides laptops that can be checked out for use while in the union.

But what about the Whole Music Club, you ask? Towle says that nearly every visitor asks about that famous Coffman venue. You’ll be pleased to learn it has been left largely unchanged, except for the happy additions of a green room, restrooms, and a concession stand.

On the first floor, visitors enter from the Northrop Mall side through Coffman’s original doors, which have been covered up since the 1970s, and step onto original terrazzo floors beautifully restored to reveal brass inlays of Coffman Union and Northrop Auditorium. On each side of the hall are fireplaces with art deco–style seating and views that carry out to the Mississippi River and Northrop Mall. From the Mississippi River side, visitors approach from a grassy terrace and a plaza with outdoor furniture surrounding the striking 16th-century Italian fountain donated by James Ford Bell in 1959.

Also on the first floor is a beautiful new state-of-the-art theater. Regularly programming second-run Hollywood films, the theater seats 400 and works well for lectures and small live performances. There are meeting rooms and Internet kiosks, a lounge area by the ticket office, and a reception area ideal for pre-function socializing that opens to the river and outdoor patios.

The second floor houses offices for 40 student groups in what Towle says is "the finest student organization space in the country." On the third floor, broad, bright hallways lead to several meeting rooms whose appointments rival any of our downtown corporate spaces.

The fourth floor Campus Club—also restored to 1940s style—sports a new bar and lounge area on the south side, off of the west wing near the Dale Shepard Room. On the Northrop Mall side, a huge terrace holds patio furniture for taking in spectacular vistas of campus. Campus Club membership—now open to all alumni—will cost about $180 per year.

Coffman reopens with the start of spring semester, January 21, and the kickoff of a semester-long, grand reopening celebration begins with a ribbon-cutting ceremony January 22. The new Coffman Union will not only be the center of campus life, it is sure to be one of the hottest venues in town for weddings, meetings, and social events. I’ll see you there!

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