The city issued a permit March 3 for Jacksonville University to renovate the Kinne University Center banquet room at a cost of $510,603 to create more space for student use.
The Kinne Center houses the Riverview Cafe, Starbucks, the bookstore and post office. The riverfront Arlington campus is at 2800 University Blvd. N.
Balfour Beatty Construction LLC of Orlando is the contractor for what the permit shows is a 10,000-square-foot project.
Plans show an exterior renovation and some interior work. The banquet room is 3,500 square feet.
JU Senior Director of Communications Laura Phelps said previously the banquet room renovation will create a more modern and functional space for students.
She said costs are projected at $800,000, but the final amount won’t be known until construction is completed.
JU plans to transform the banquet space by the fall with updates that include new windows, flooring, lighting, furniture and 24/7 access.
“It is a student-focused facility right at the center of campus. The goal of this renovation project is to create an inviting, multipurpose space for students that would be accessible 24 hours a day,” Phelps said.
Phelps said the project emerged before the COVID-19 pandemic when the university surveyed students as part of a strategic planning initiative.
“Many students said they would like to have more space on campus where they can meet, eat, study and socialize between or after classes,” she said.
“It was also important for them to be able to access it day and night; a flexible space that fits their schedules.”
JU was evaluating existing space on campus when the pandemic hit and the project was paused.
To allow for social distancing within its dining facilities, the university created an overflow eating area in the Kinne Center banquet room that primarily was used for events. It is adjacent to the Riverview Cafe.
The center, built in 1957 and expanded in 1986, has long been named for Frances Bartlett Kinne, who joined JU as a humanities professor in 1958.
Kinne founded the College of Fine Arts in 1961 and served as JU president from 1979-89, then chancellor and chancellor emerita until her death in May 2020 at the age of 102.
The center is 32,678 square feet. The main part is one story, but the back side of the building, which faces the river, has a lower floor that includes the post office and bookstore. They are accessible from outside doors.
