Many student organizations on campus, including the Associated Students of Madison, will move to a new home starting Jan. 6.
The new Student Activities Center will reside on the third and fourth floors of the University Square building located at 333 East Campus Mall.
The building will contain retail on the first and second floors, with University Health Services on the fifth through eighth floors and the Bursar's Office on the ninth and 10th floors.
The purpose of the new location is to bring together various student organizations on campus in a centralized meeting space. Included in the facility are cubby spaces and lockers for each organization, conference rooms, a rooftop deck, study areas and a kitchen area.
UHS presented the idea for the project in the mid-1990s, citing the need for a more central location on campus. Since then, UHS has been working with ASM to find a suitable location.
I think it's a really great opportunity to show that ASM is really trying to work with student organizations, and it's really great that we'll be in such close proximity to [them],"" said Lauren Vollrath, chair of the SAC Governing Board.
Organizations to receive permanent office space in the building include Student Print, WSUM radio and ASM offices.
The current ASM office is located at Memorial Union, but according to Adam Sheka, chair of the ASM Shared Governance Committee, the office is disjointed and not cohesive for working with other organizations.
""There's a lot of opportunity for [ASM] to interact with other students, which is just going to be really beneficial,"" Sheka said about the new space.
According to the ASM website, students supported the decision to implement new office space through a referendum during previous ASM elections.
""It's an example of one of ASM's victories that is really going to last a long time,"" Vollrath said.
ASM officials said the total cost for the University Square project came to $59 million.
