Big goals have been set for Reggie’s revamping and the restoration of the mezzanine space of the Hall building brought on by CUSACorp.
The for-profit sector of the Concordia Student Union, CUSACorp, is responsible for the management and oversight of spaces on campus, such as Reggie’s. It was established in order to generate profits to offset the growing costs of student life initiatives and services provided by the CSU in the long-term.
The board is managed by five undergraduate students and two community members, and all the work is done on a voluntary basis. Four undergraduate students currently run the board: James Tyler Vaccaro, CSU’s VP Clubs & Internal Affairs; Scott Carr, CSU’s VP Finance; Antonin Picou, President of Engineering and Computer Science Association; and undergraduate student Melanie Hotchkiss, currently there are no community members on the board.
“CUSACorp seeks to collaborate with the CSU and university to create a space that caters to the different needs of students. A revival of the mezzanine would entail creating locations with food options, areas to sit and socialize, and easy access to services offered by the CSU. The renovation of Reggie’s Bar fits perfectly within this vision, and can contribute immensely to improving the use of space on the Mezzanine,” states the CUSACorp Board in their press release.
CUSACorp is aiming to create these spaces on campus, in an effort to unite the Concordia community. One way in which the Board would like to achieve this goal is through renovating the space that is currently occupied by Reggie’s.
“This is a unique spot on campus with great potential. We believe that Reggie’s Bar can be a space for students to work communally or socialize. It can act as a hub of student life on campus by hosting a variety of events and catering to the needs of different student groups. This year the bar can change its image from a dark dive bar on campus to a warm and welcoming venue,” continued the press release.
Vaccaro said that for the first time in years, Reggie’s was actually generating revenue. He and Carr took on some immediate changes to the bar to drive down some unnecessary costs such as decreasing the number of beers on tap from 12 to 2 in order to curb wasted revenue.
Moreover, Reggie’s was opened Monday to Friday from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. but was often empty which is why the board decided to have the bar only opened during peak hours such as Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and starting at a later time.
With proper renovations the cost estimate is between $400,000 and $500,000. There have been plans laid out but now students are waiting to sit down and discuss the cost breakdown with facilities management. Ventilation and plumbing should be taken care of as part of the bar’s lease with the university, which would bring down the overall cost for students, because their money would be going solely to the aesthetic aspect of the renovations.
Vaccaro explained that contractors have many concerns about safety conditions and that Reggie’s should not have been open for business. There are issues with the bar’s bathrooms as only two out of eight toilets work and the constant leaks are causing damage to both the bathrooms and the space itself. The ventilation is even more problematic, since it is the same system used in the Hall building and would therefore be shut off after school hours. This is a health concern, as the bar is open much later than the rest of the building, causing the venue to become extremely hot and suffer from lack of fresh air.
To coincide with the beginning of the semester, there will be a Reggie’s Bar website launched Wednesday Jan. 8, created primarily to deliver information to students about why the bar is closed, when it will be opened and all other updates. Once the plans are more concrete, the website will continue to be used as a communication portal for student opinion.
For more information check out the new website: www.reggiesbar.com
