University officials and Joe Tattoni of the ikon.5 architecture firm presented updates on the plans for the New South Student Center on Monday. The facility aspires for a clean aesthetic with a modern look. The project emphasizes eco-friendly initiatives with skylights, green indoor walls, and solar screens on the south windows to reflect heat.

The shrubbery on the slope going down to Prospect Road will be renovated with a paved walking space and a lawn with trees and grills, termed the Riverside Terrace. A raised wooden deck at the end of the lawn next to Village A is envisioned as outdoors seating for the Pub overlooking the Potomac.

The Pub is projected to hold 100 people seated and 200 standing and will also have a service window for pub food. Students at the meeting raised concern over how expensive the food and drinks would be, which the administration said is still being decided with the business that will operate it.

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At the beginning of this semester, The Hoya reported that the planned Davis Center Corp café, which the Corp had anticipated opening in November 2009 when it announced plans to build it in June, was not only behind schedule but still in the planning stages.

Where are they now? Still planning, and not building—but the Corp and relevant University departments have begun to coordinate with one another more substantially on issues like food service and financial implications, and have made enough progress on the project that they can at least begin to forecast when construction can begin. Derek Goldman, the artistic director for the Department of Performing Arts, said that construction could conceivably begin early this summer.

Many details still need to be worked out, however. In an e-mail, CEO of The Corp Brad Glasser (COL ’11) said that for cost, the range of possibilities is still “obviously enormous, and will likely be in the hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars ballpark should the project get off the ground.”

Goldman said that The Corp is paying for all construction.

“They’re putting in capital for construction on their own, and we have an arrangement that as there are profits, a percentage of which will go to The Corp, we’re sharing those. But this is not a capital investment for the University.”

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