Although the Talley Student Center remains open and operational, construction surrounds the building that will soon take on a new façade .

The two-story building behind Talley that once housed the bookstore and C-Store was demolished, and the roadway in front of Talley is closed to through traffic. Physical changes to the student center itself have yet to begin.

Students who walk by the site will see a flurry of activity on a day-to-day basis. Now that the bookstore building has been torn down, construction is currently focused on underground work that must first be accomplished before any structural work can begin.

“Primarily we’re working on the site work including chilled water lines, steam lines, electrical and data work underground and clearing the site to prepare it for construction,” said Tim Hogan, director of University student centers operations.

Project planners said they do not want construction to inconvenience those traveling on foot, and left gaps in fencing around the site to allow foot traffic to reach Talley, Carmichael gym and other destinations around campus. In the last week, the pathway has been consolidated to one walkway through the construction rather than two paths.

“It’s a construction site, and we’re attempting to accommodate as many people as possible knowing that we are going to have detours along the way,” Hogan said. “Hopefully people will be cognizant that we are doing the best that we can to accommodate all our students on  campus.”

Incoming freshmen and returning students alike must deal with the obstruction. Orientation attendee Evan Hartshorn  said construction has caused a large inconvenience in his orientation experience, especially since many events are held in Talley.

“It’s a long distance to get back to Bowen where I would be staying, or to get back to the parking lot over by Sullivan. Check-in, dining halls, everything—you have to walk around everything,”  Hartshorn  said.

The $120 million project, which Chancellor Woodson said is paid for by student fees, is on schedule, according to Hogan.

Sophomore in biological science  Melodi  Charles will graduate before the project is completed in late 2014.

“I’m sure students in the future will appreciate [the new Talley],” Charles said. “Students now are either indifferent or they hate it.”

Although Charles will not be able to reap the full benefits of the new student center, she said she understood that her student fees would go toward the project. If past students had protested paying for building projects, then “nothing would have gotten  done.”