Equipped with hardhats and safety goggles, members of the Latter-day Saints Student Association took their first glance Friday at what will become their new home.
A small group of students, lead by institute officials and site managers, walked through the behemoth 118,500 sq. foot structure.
“I think it is really exciting,” said Mary Jane Dibble, vice chairwoman of LDSSA’s campus relations board. “There are some great views and some nice rooms for everyone. It is even bigger than I thought. It is really impressive.”
Construction is on schedule according to officials from the LDS Institute of Religion. As many as 150 construction workers are laying drywall, running wires and putting on the first coats of paint.
The building will open for student use in July, the same month construction crews will demolish the existing institute to create more surface parking. The new structure is 30 percent larger than the three old institute buildings combined.
Officials from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have created a standard layout for all institute buildings, but with the large number of LDS students at the U, the church decided to construct two of those structures and link them with a glass atrium.
When completed, the new institute will serve 16 separate student wards, each containing 250 students, every Sunday. Both the east and west sides of the building will house six basketball standards, and as many as 10,000 students can enroll for classes.
The chapels will have 23 foot high ceilings and institute officials have the option of changing two of the chapels into performance art spaces in a matter of hours.
The LDS Church built the existing institute in the 1960s, and when the first discussions of creating a new building reached the ears of Church President Gordon B. Hinckley, he replied that the buildings were not that old, said Ralph Swiss, director of facilities for religious education.
While the old building is still functional, it is cramped. The 5,500 students currently enrolled in institute classes are too much for the building to take, and when institute officials investigated the option of expanding, they found it would be more cost effective to start from square one. With the space to expand, institute officials plan to use the building longer than 40 years.
However, with the new building comes a new challenge from church leaders. Institute administrators now have a goal of increasing enrollment by 15 percent.
Institute Director Paul Browning said he hopes to see a 1,000 student increase after the building opens next academic year. He believes the excitement surrounding the opening will interest students. He also expects the new parking will help with his recruitment efforts.
In April, the temporary, World War II-era buildings that house University Surplus, Campus Recreation and some administrative offices for the U will come down to allow the institute to expand surface parking.
The church owns the eight and a half acres and plans to use the land to create green space, a 600-stall parking structure that will take nine months to build, and 1,000 surface parking spots. The U will lease 400 of the stalls in the parking structure, which will bring the total number of institute spots to 1,200. Parking is free for those who sign up for institute classes, while permits last.
LDSSA President Jake Werrett is excited about the new structure.
“It is great. I think it is huge,” he said.
The first floor will house student offices and classrooms, while the second floor will have bishop and teacher offices.
The institute will include a lunch room, deli, game room and multiple lounges for student use.
“This is a statement by the church and the leadership of the church about how much they care about you, the youth in the church and those not in the church,” Swiss said.
Browning believes the new institute will act as a student center on campus, similar to the Union and Heritage Center.
“It will tremendously beautify the south end of campus,” Browning said.