The University of Minnesota is building skyways to keep its student-athletes warm while walking between practice facilities, but hundreds of freshmen will have to walk outside to get to their nearest cafeteria.
Regents on Friday approved final designs for the $166 million Athletes Village and a $105 million renovation for Pioneer Hall.
Skyways and corridors for the football and basketball practice center, considered optional in early designs, were included in the final plan at a cost of $3 million.
Future residents of Centennial Hall were not so lucky. Regents declined to spend an additional $5.5 million for a tunnel between the Centennial dorms and a new cafeteria at Pioneer Hall.
“We spend a hundred million dollars … and then we try to cheap out at the end with what is really an important element for our students. I think that’s the wrong approach,” regent Richard Beeson said.
Beeson sought to add the tunnel to the dorm project Friday but didn’t get enough support.
Darrin Rosha agreed with Beeson. He supported the Athletes Village skyways and the cafeteria tunnel and said it’s “a bit inconsistent” to approve connections for one project but not the other.
“I don’t think any of us have kitchens in a separate facility from where we sleep, so I don’t think we’re serving our students very well,” he said.
The two-year housing project will modernize the 89-year-old Pioneer Hall while adding 60 beds. It also will eliminate two underground cafeterias at Centennial and Pioneer and replace them with an above-ground, 850-seat dining center at Pioneer.
Dorm residents at least will save money by walking outside. Officials said a cafeteria tunnel would have increased room and board rates about one-half of a percent. Private donors are expected to pay for Athletes Village.
The regents’ facilities committee had the same debate Thursday over the merits of the cafeteria tunnel. Chairman Dean Johnson ended the discussion by suggesting students suck it up and don a coat.
BRIEFLY
The regents also approved a one-year extension on the contract of men’s basketball coach Richard Pitino, which now runs through 2021-22. The extension also includes retention bonuses worth $1.7 million, including a $650,000 payment if Pitino is still the Gophers’ coach on April 30, 2022.