Originally slated for next semester, plans to remodel Elon’s Moseley Center are now contingent on the resolution of the recent Chick-fil-A controversy. Under the new design, Octagon Cafe will be removed to make room for an expanded student area featuring more seating, study rooms and offices for student organizations. But, at least for the immediate future, the project is stalled while construction awaits the university’s approval.
Though the university determined the logistics and designed the renovation, the inspiration came from students. According to Holly Hodge, interior designer at Elon, students who felt Moseley did not meet the needs of the student body expressed their concern to the administration.
“Students were requesting more of a student center,” she said. “We want it to be more student based.”
Octagon Cafe and its kitchens, along with Hearth Lounge, will be renovated to accommodate the students’ requests, but the rest of the first floor of Moseley — the mailroom, Irazu Coffee and McKinnon Hall — will remain unchanged.
Lambert Architecture + Interiors, an architectural firm based in Salem, designed the new layout. The group has worked with the university in the past, designing the Student Professional Development Center and the renovation of the basketball locker rooms in Koury Gym.
In keeping with the focus on student affairs, the new space will attempt to consolidate the offices of eight on-campus organizations. According to Brad Moore, director of planning, design and construction, if the experiment works, other organizations may be allotted space when the second floor of Moseley is eventually renovated.
“Where Octagon is now will be a student hangout place where different student organizations can have an office,” he said. “We’re trying to give groups that are already there a chance to expand and grow, and make room for those without a home.”
Two Octagon eateries, Topio’s Pizza and, potentially, Chick-fil-A, will move to the Lakeside Dining Hall, which is currently under construction and scheduled to open in spring 2013. Freshii, a new restaurant serving wraps and salads, will share space in Lakeside. But it all hinges on the Chick-fil-A decision. Reserving the right to remove Chick-fil-A from campus, the university has refrained from creating the new, full-service Chick-fil-A in Lakeside. Until then, the Octagon Chick-fil-A will remain.
“Until that decision is made, nothing is going to happen in Octagon,” Moore said. “We don’t know when that will be.”