ATU Set to Break Ground on Student Union, Rec Center

ATU Student Union and Rec Center Site Plan
This site plan demonstrates the footprint the new student union and recreation center will occupy relative to existing facilities at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville.

Arkansas Tech University will launch the construction phase of its student union and recreation center project with a groundbreaking event at 9 a.m. on Thursday, March 16.

Due to forecasts of inclement weather, the ceremony will take place in the Hull Building Student Union, 1306 North El Paso Avenue on the ATU campus in Russellville.

ATU’s new student union and recreation center will provide space for a campus living room/lounge, outdoor recreation, individual and group fitness activities, student organizations, food service, a convenience store/spirit shop, multi-purpose meeting rooms, two basketball courts, a multi-activity court, a café and events at multiple scales.

Site work is projected to begin in June 2023 with construction scheduled to begin in earnest later this year. The estimated grand opening for the ATU student union and recreation center is between June and August 2025.

Miller Boskus Lack of Fayetteville was selected by ATU trustees as the lead architecture firm in the development of plans for the student union and recreation center in 2019. Personnel from the Dallas, Texas, location of SmithGroup have assisted in planning the facility.

The ATU Board of Trustees selected Kinco Constructors of Little Rock as construction manager at risk for the project during the board’s December 2022 meeting.

The new facility will be constructed on the parcel of land previously occupied by the W.O. Young Building, which was demolished in late 2022 and early 2023.

Learn more at www.atu.edu/studentunion/future.php.