By next week, the asbestos in the Reitz Union will be gone.
Renovations on the lower level of the student union began in October, said Eddie Daniels, executive director of the building. At the beginning of renovations, including to the Arts & Crafts Center and the Student Government Computer Lab, routine checks found asbestos in the floor and the ceiling. The Computer Lab is open; the Arts & Crafts Center is not.
“With every project we do, we go through a process of testing for hazardous materials and determining if they need to be removed,” Daniels said.
He said it wasn’t a surprise that there was asbestos in the building because of the materials used in construction during the time it was built.
The removal will cost $25,000, UF spokesperson Janine Sikes wrote in an email.
The lower level is one of four areas that were renovated apart from the $75 million expansion completed last Spring, Daniels said.
The total cost for the lower-level renovations is $885,000, funded with revenues from rents and other business services as well as support from SG, Sikes said.
Daniels said renovations will be completed later this semester.
Sarah Nguyen, 18, said she was unaware of the asbestos in the building. She thought the hazard would have been removed a long time ago.
“Knowing it now, it makes me a little scared to go down there. But I’m still gonna go down there, it’s just unnerving I guess,” the UF health science freshman said.
Signs in the Reitz Union warn of asbestos. Parts of the Lower Level of the Reitz Union are closed for renovations.
