Savannah
Szymanski
Professor Conway
Freshman Honors
Seminar
27 October 2014
University
Crossing
One
of the most recent renovations within the University of Massachusetts in Lowell
campus is the University Crossing building on East Campus. The building is
placed near the center of the University’s campus where it is easily accessible
to students by walking from other campuses or by taking the bus. Though the University
Crossing building has been a part of the campus for several years, the building
can be considered completely new due to the extremely modern renovations and
improvements on the edifice which we completed for the fall semester of 2014.
The building not only holds various floors for offices and presentation rooms,
but also the Riverhawk store, the book store, and the Crossroads Café. The
Building renovations cost the school a sufficient amount of money, however the
student activity and attendance of the stores and café within the building
provide a large profit for the school.
In
2011, the University of Massachusetts in Lowell purchased the University
Crossing building and transformed the structure from a former hospital to the
University’s site for their offices, stores, and campus restaurant. The
property was originally used as a hospital during the industrial era in the
early twentieth century, but continued to be used as a hospital throughout the
early 1900s (“University Crossing: History”). The ownership of the property was
altered various different times where it was originally known as the Saint
Joseph’s hospital until it finally became a full service community hospital
named Saints Medical Center (“University Crossing: History”). Once the Medical
Center vacated the property to occupy a new hospital in a separate location,
the University purchased the location as the new headquarters for student
relations, offices, and school stores.
The
newly renovated University Crossing building serves the purpose of accommodating
students’ needs while simultaneously generating a large profit for the school. By
holding the book store, Riverhawk store, and the Crossroads Café, the
University Crossing building contains some of the most attended store on
campus. Students generally spend a large quantity of their money at the start
of the year on textbooks that can be ordered and purchased through the book
store. Often times, people find it more convenient to order through the
bookstore because that way students can order all their books for every class
through one place rather than going to multiple stores and websites to order
their materials. In addition, being able to purchase books from the school
store website online and pick them up later in person is an added convenience
for students.
Above the book store is the
University’s large Riverhawk store, equipped with all the latest University of
Massachusetts in Lowell attire. When one walks around campus during average day
hours, it is almost impossible not to see various students sporting the school
logo and all the Riverhawk colors of white, red, and blue. Students all over
campus wear their university attire as a means of comfort and school spirit to
classes, school events, sports games, and anywhere they feel like showing off
their Riverhawk pride. Whether it is casual clothing, coffee mugs, or the
classic photo ID lanyards, a large majority of students purchase Riverhawk gear
from the overly large collection of school oriented goods within the Riverhawk
store. The amount of students that purchase custom Riverhawk items from the
school boosts the profits made from the University crossing building.
Next to the convenient and profitable
Riverhawk store and book store, is the Crossroads Café which is attached to a
downsized Starbucks. The Crossroads Café is not only attractive in appearance
with a unique yet likable furniture and color scheme, but also appealing in
their offered cuisine. The café offers a refreshing selection of pizzas, sandwiches,
and other classic café meals that are not available at the University’s several
dining halls. The Crossroads Café accepts Riverhawk points, which acquaints to money
placed on students’ IDs, as well as meal swipes within select time intervals throughout
the week. The café attracts a vast amount of business due to its convenient
location which allows students to go out to eat or order take out without the
high prices of restaurant food because the café is run by the school and made accessible
to students and their budgets.
Works
Cited
“University
Crossing: History” University Crossing. University of Massachusetts in Lowell.
25 October 2014. Web.
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