Major changes will be coming to the upper quad come August. The post office, currently located in Poteat Residence Hall, will move to the first floor of Benson University Center into the space formerly held by the Office of Residence Life and Housing. A restaurant and student lounge space will then move into Poteat.
Graphic by Elizabeth Ropp/Old Gold & Black
The yet-to-be named restaurant and lounge is expected to serve pizza and wings and like Shorty’s will serve beer and wine. The lounge space will include gaming areas featuring billiards and darts.
When the Office of Residence Life and Housing relocated to Alumni Hall last summer, the expectation was that the first floor area of Benson would be converted into student lounge space.
However, contractors visited the space and found that lounge space would not be the best use of the area so they decided to move the post office there instead, opening up the space in Poteat.
The new restaurant in Poteat fits into the university’s plan to redevelop the upper quad.
“The center of campus is moving further north with the construction of the new residence halls and the new dining hall,” Tré Easton, president of student government, said.
“They want to reinvigorate the upper quad and make it more of the center of campus life and keep students there actively enjoying the Wake Forest experience.”
Easton says that the university recognizes the need for more lounge space and he believes that the new space and future projects will help alleviate this demand on campus.
“There is going to be a movement towards more lounge spaces in the buildings of the upper quad and having those places be places where students feel comfortable hanging out,” he said.
And while students are excited about the increased student lounge space and dining options, some students feel that the new space will not bring enough new choices. “I don’t think it’s a very good idea. I’m a healthy person so I think if they were going to pick other food options they should give us more broad types of food,” sophomore Sarah Poulin said.
“We have Chick-fil-A and Moe’s, so I think that different types of food would be a better choice than a pizza and wings place.”
However, Poulin does believe that relocating the post office to Benson will be beneficial. “I think that Benson will probably be a better place for the post office,” she said. “It’s a more centralized area.”
Freshman Brandon Clark also believes that having the post office in Benson will be more convenient. “If they can make it work in this area, the student center, it’s fine by me,” Clark said. “If some people are concerned about the walk (to the post office), I live in Babcock and I have to walk all the way up to upper quad and it’s not a big deal for me.”
Although there are some concerns from students, the majority of the student body is excited for the new restaurant and lounge. “People are very excited about the project and they should be,” Easton said. “It’s going to be a really cool space I think.”
The Division of Campus Life will be releasing more information, which may include designs and architectural drawings of the new space, on the new addition to Hearn Plaza later this month or early in March.