Completing a major piece of the university’s investment in new facilities at its Lincoln Park Campus, DePaul University will open its new, leading-edge student center, located at 2250 N. Sheffield Ave., during the first week of January.

The 145,000-square-foot brick and steel structure represents the most recent step in transforming the Lincoln Park Campus into one of the traditional, residential variety from its historic role as a commuter campus. The $25 million student center is the eighth major campus building to be opened there since 1998. Rick Thomas, director of student centers at DePaul, said the facility fills a void for the university. “For the first time, we have a true community center for the campus in Lincoln Park,” he said. “A number of different services and functions will be available under one roof.”

The three-story building features a multi-station cafeteria that has double the capacity of the current facility and new menu options, a coffee bar with 20 computer workstations, a spirit shop selling DePaul clothing and merchandise, as well as a multipurpose event room with state-of-the-art multimedia capability that can hold 600 guests for lectures and 400 guests for banquets. In addition, the facility will house Multicultural Student Affairs, the university’s Cultural Center, the Lincoln Park admission office, Office of Student Life, a billiard and game room, student organization offices, administrative offices, ID card services, Campus Copy Center and additional meeting space for campus groups and community organizations.

Thomas explained that the new student center, designed by WTW Architects and VMC Architects and built by W.E. O’ Neil, will serve as the “Main Street” for the Lincoln Park Campus, as well as enable DePaul to claim some of the finest student facilities in the region.

“In most small towns and communities, Main Street is a place where there are needed services, places to congregate and places to gather for celebrations and events,” Thomas said. “The new student center is very much that for the DePaul community.”

The building, which has an exterior designed to blend seamlessly into the surrounding neighborhood, boasts an ultra-modern interior décor and layout, featuring sleek, colorful furniture and lighting, and an airy atrium connected by two large glass entranceways on the northeast and northwest corners of the building. This was intentional on the part of the project’s architects to add to the comfort level of the building.

“There’s a saying that the student center is the living room of the university,” Thomas said. “So it needs to have an inviting, welcoming and open feel to it. We want to bring our community into the building, so they can relax, dine and take advantage of the other services offered on site.”

Thomas said that it is a growing trend for colleges and universities to build new or renovate current student center or student union facilities. This is due to both the age of many such buildings and the fact that prospective students are demanding better amenities on campus. According to the Association of College Unions International, more than $1 billion is spent every year on construction and renovation of college student centers and unions.

“On many campuses, the student union was built in the 1950s or 1960s, and was built for a very different set of needs than today’s student has,” Thomas said. “As a result, many of these buildings have reached the end of their first life cycle. Also, a student center’s features are yet another way for a university to differentiate itself from its competitors.”

The student center is built on the former site of Alumni Hall, which was the home of the DePaul Blue Demons basketball teams for decades. The teams now practice at the new DePaul Athletic Center on Sheffield Ave. Stuart Center, 2311 N. Clifton Ave., which had housed the cafeteria and many of the campus organizations prior to the new center’s opening, is slated to be replaced by a new chemistry building within the next few years.