When Taylor Place opens next semester, changes will include the opening of the second tower, increasing the number of community assistants and opening additional eateries to accommodate an increase in residents, University officials said.
Though construction on the second tower ended in December, Downtown campus officials decided to keep the building closed until fall 2009 when more residents will move in, said Patrick Panetta, associate director for the University’s real-estate development.
“[This academic year] only one of the two towers was open,” Panetta said. “The second tower will accommodate the growth and population at Taylor Place.”
No further material renovations will be made to provide for the
increase in residents at Taylor Place, he said.
“There’s not going to be any physical changes besides the second tower being opened and utilized,” Panetta said.
Even though there won’t be any structural changes at Taylor Place in preparation for fall, changes in ASU’s Downtown community will occur, said Cassandra Aska, director of Downtown student engagement, in an e-mail.
With the number of residents at Taylor Place potentially almost tripling from roughly 400 residents to about 1,200 in the fall, Aska said community changes will transpire to accommodate the increase of students.
“With a new influx of students in Taylor Place, [there will be] changes that will welcome their arrival include increasing our community-
assistant staff and providing additional laundry facilities in Tower II,” Aska said.
Also, a park near Taylor Place will open in time for the fall semester, which she said would benefit the students who live there.
“The downtown Civic Space park will be open when our new students arrive, giving them space to enjoy the ambiance of a natural setting in the heart of the city and a new place to study, socialize or simply relax,” Aska said.
With more students living downtown, Aska said she realizes students may be worried about crowded facilities, like the dining hall. But Taylor Place is working to provide more food options for residents, she said.
“As the campus evolves, dining options are increasing for students,” Aska said. “El Portal, Subway, and Sbarros are all recent additions to the Downtown Phoenix campus [and] a new Asian-themed food venue is also scheduled to open in Taylor Place this fall.”
Daniel Neligh, an economics and journalism freshman, lives in Taylor Place now and plans to reside there next year as well.
He said that with the increase in students next year, he feels areas such as the dining hall and elevators may be crowded, though dealing with problems will be worthwhile in the end.
“I think on the one hand it might be kind of nice because the community downtown is incredibly small,” Neligh said.
Though having more residents at Taylor Place may “make things more inconvenient, the disadvantages are outweighed by the advantages,” he said.
Fellow Taylor Place resident Stephanie Snyder agreed that more students downtown would result in a positive change in the downtown community. Though there may be some obstacles at first like overcrowding, it will be rewarding to have a diverse campus downtown, the journalism freshman said.
“Overall [more students downtown] will be a good thing,” Snyder said. “Though it may initially cause some problems for Taylor Place, it will be great for ASU.”
Reach the reporter at abigail.gilmore@asu.edu.
