By: Thomas Jones, Staff Reporter
In September Regis University, in conjunction with MIG Inc, held an open house where they unveiled their ambitious expansion plans for Regis University and talked about what the next 20 years for Regis may look like.
The open house started with short introductions by some MIG staff who helped create the plans for Regis’s future which were on posters around the room. MIG Inc is an architectural and community planning design company that is focused on sustainability and human development. They have been entrusted with assisting Regis in developing design plans for future expansions. The MIG staff presented a PowerPoint, which laid out some of the changes which Regis may be seeing in three separate phases over the course of the next 20 yea
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The first stage of Regis’s expansion plan is going to take place over the next 0-5 years and is going to include an addition to DeSmet as well as an addition to the Science Center. The second phase of Regis’s plan should take place in the next 5-10 years and will include projects such as a new Admissions Facility, a new Health and Fitness Center and a new below and above ground parking garage. The third phase will take place over the next 10-20 years and will include projects such as Loyola being torn down and a new parking garage being erected in its place, the current student center becoming a fine art building with a new student center being built more towards the center of campus, behind where the field house currently sits.
Some other projects that will also be occurring over the next 20 years: making campus more permeable by removing fences and adding more inviting entrances to campus, remodeling the library to create a grand entrance facing towards Regis Boulevard, new sports fields along the North side of campus in Adams county (Regis doesn’t own this land but will look into purchasing it), expanding the campus all the way to Federal, adding both a grand entryway along Federal as well as more campus buildings, and lastly, adding a large multipurpose event center along Federal on the Northern side of campus.
MIG Inc worked with the Regis Board of Trustees to create this expansion plan and at this point in time the plan is about 95% complete, meaning that the plans laid out here may change slightly over time, but are relatively established. Some grounding principles, which MIG took with them throughout the planning process was first to value quality over quantity. This means they want to move Regis into the 21st century with quality facilities such as housing and classrooms. A second principle MIG took into consideration throughout their planning was to keep the same feel Regis currently has as a campus and to incorporate characteristics found currently on campus that people like into the new design. Some of these characteristics include the plant life on campus, like the certified arboretum as well as the open spaces on campus such as Boettcher commons. These are two aspects of Regis, which MIG and the board of Trustees would want to build upon moving forward. So as current Regis students, snap a photo now and again and preserve the memory of the campus you know now because when you come back to visit as a trusty alum, it will look a whole lot different.
For a brief overview of the work on the student center, check out this video!