By Joshua Huggins
If you have ever visited Auburn’s campus, you know that there is a constant hum of construction equipment around campus ALWAYS! One of the larger and most exciting projects that is slated to be completed in April of 2021 is the Central Dining Hall Project. This 48,000 square-foot, 800 seat dining hall will include reservable dining and study rooms and retail venue space. It will also have food stations dispersed on two levels and offer a variety of dining options from salads and pizza to allergen-sensitive recipes.
While it will not be completed in 2021, one of the largest construction projects you will see on campus when driving through Auburn is the construction of the Tony and Libba Rane Culinary Science Center. It is a first-of-its-kind project for Auburn University and combines a major academic component with revenue generating elements to help defray the cost of the building. The revenue producing opportunities include six living units that will be leased to third parties at fair market value. The entire project is in support of the College of Human Sciences’ Hospitality Management program, and its Culinary Science, Event Management, and Hotel and Restaurant Management academic options. The project combines academic instructional and laboratory space, as well as operational food venues and hotel spaces in which students will obtain experiential training.
A few steps off campus, it looks like the city council members for the City of Auburn have approved a resolution to construct a downtown grocery store, rumored to be a Publix. The completion of this project will allow students without a means to transportation the opportunity to walk downtown from their residence halls to gather all their grocery items with ease. Currently, the closest full grocery option is about 2.5 miles away.
Just around the corner from the downtown grocery store, AuburnBank is constructing a new 96,000 square-foot building on the corner of Gay Street and Magnolia Avenue with retail space on the bottom floor. In addition to this building, a 5-level parking deck will bring an additional 535 parking spaces downtown making the shopping and eating a little more accessible to the community.
Some of the newest and exciting news is that Auburn has hired a new Head Football Coach. Bryan Harsin joins the Auburn Tigers from his Alma Mater, Boise State. With hiring Harsin, completely new to the SEC, Auburn fans are hopeful that he can bring that change our program needs to make us a team that consistently competes for SEC and National Championships! Fingers crossed 2021 is our year!
Regardless of what we are faced with in 2021, there is no doubt that Auburn University will continue to carry on its legacy of family across campus and on the field.