Oklahoma State University
Student Union Strategic Development Plan
By 2006, Oklahoma State University students, faculty, and administrators had recognized that "quality of life" programs and services provided by the University's 54-year-old, 500,000 gross square foot student union had become outdated and lacked the ability to support the quality of campus life that students had come to expect. In particular, the University felt that its union lacked the types of spaces and features that would foster a greater sense of community on its campus.
In
August 2006, Oklahoma State University retained
the services of Brailsford & Dunlavey--in
conjunction with Holzman Moss Architects,
Envision Strategies, Campus Bookstore
Consulting, and Sparks AEI--to develop a
strategic development plan for the renovation
and expansion of the University's existing
student union. Specifically, B&D was
engaged to conduct a comprehensive feasibility
assessment that included a market analysis to
identify demand and support for a renovated and
enhanced union; collaborate on the development
of demand-based conceptual program options
describing a "contemporary" student union for
the campus; and create a financial model
incorporating capital costs, revenue streams,
and University-provided operating/strategic
assumptions with the conceptual programs
identified to illustrate project financing
options.
B&D's market analysis results revealed significant demand for the renovation and improvement of student union facilities, programs, and services. This analysis also determined that despite the large overall size of the current union, assignable square footage allocations for student-focused spaces such as food service, large event space, bookstore, and recreation/entertainment were significantly under-sized, while allocations for administrative and academic-related areas were larger than typical. As a result, the University's students perceived the existing union as an administrative space on campus and limited their interaction in the facility to less than 30 minutes per visit.
In order
to transform the union into a student-focused
facility, B&D applied its proprietary
"Demand-Based Programming" model toward
generating program allocations for
student-focused spaces to be included in a
renovated/improved union. B&D also
recommended that the University increase
student group priority in the reservation
process for events, meetings, and activities in
order to increase student traffic, thereby
creating a more central community space on
campus.
Near the end of the 6-month project, B&D developed a financial model presenting a variety of possible approaches and implications for three project scenarios. The detailed financial analysis identified a mix of student fee and retail service-generated revenue to support projected debt service and operating costs from estimates developed by the team's cost consultants. Ultimately, the University's Student Government Association voted to ask the Board of Regents to increase the student union fee by $5 per student, which when combined with self-generated income would provide approximately $52 million for debt service, with the assumption that fundraising and institutional contributions could add another $20 million to the project.