The central staircase in the Reitz Union will be taken out over Spring Break as part of the next major step in the Make It Reitz renovation.
In its place, stacking bathrooms on every floor will be constructed, said Eddie Daniels, a Make it Reitz advisory committee member and executive director of the Reitz Union.
“It’s being closed off, and it’s not coming back,” Daniels said.
Construction will begin at the end of this week. In the meantime, there will be signs directing students to the existing staircases and elevators in the Reitz, Daniels said. The changes are also updated on the Make it Reitz website.
“There will be some inconvenience and certainly some change from what people are used to, but we’re gonna try and make it as painless as possible,” Daniels said. “We have to go through the sacrifice because, you know, there is no other place on campus where we can move the union to while we rebuild this.”
Abbie Ripple, a 20-year-old UF journalism junior, said she was unaware the staircase was closing, and she had concerns about the effects of the renovations on students.
“The noise, the clutter and the inaccessibility are all major players in making these renovations so inconvenient to students,” Ripple said. “I wish they would have waited or at least taken it one project at a time.”
Julie Coutu, a 20-year-old UF women’s studies sophomore, said she agreed the renovations are an inconvenience to students who use the Reitz often.
“It’s already hard enough to get around with all the construction,” Coutu said. “I guess I’ll just be taking the elevator now.”
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 2/25/2014 under the headline “Reitz central staircase to be removed during Spring Break"]
