UW-Madison students could not miss the gigantic hole that replaced Union South last spring, but few have any clue a new union has opened in its place.
""Breese Terrace Union? I've never even heard of that,"" senior Taylor Shannon said when asked if he had used the new union, which has operated since February in the former University Health Services building on Breese Terrace.
Of 17 students asked, only four had any knowledge of the union, and none had used the building's computer lab, study rooms, pool table or two large flat-screen TVs with Wii and Xbox game consoles.
Tim Gloeckler, the union's student services manager, said he is disappointed that word has not spread.
""Last spring we were really surprised at how difficult it was to attract people to this place... shocked. We thought things would pick up in the fall, but so far they haven't,"" Gloeckler said.
UW-Madison graduate student Justin Kearney worked at Union South and now works at the new union's front desk providing information and selling snacks, drinks and merchandise.
""The only people who really know about it are the people working in the building,"" Kearney said. The building includes 15 union administrators, a night-time building manager and a morning custodian.
According to Union Communications Director Marc Kennedy, merchandise sales last spring were $14,224, while part-time wages totaled $12,061, but expenses topped sales by $572 in the summer, not including overhead expenses.
Kennedy said the transitional facility is important to serve the west-side campus community and accommodate UW-Madison organizations.
Even if students begin using the building more, though, it will not be there long. UW-Madison Facilities Planning and Management Director Alan Fish recently announced the building will be torn down next summer and replaced with a $100 million Energy Institute paid for by the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Grant. The union's offices and activities will have to be relocated then until the March 2011 planned opening date of the new south campus union.
Breese Terrace Union is open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday.
