Abel Sandoz gets new additions

In recent years, the Harper/Schramm/Smith residence halls have emerged as the most popular dorms among freshmen. That's about to change.

Thanks to an expansive two-year renovation project, the Abel and Sandoz residence halls have been completely revamped and are expected to become some of the most sought-after on campus.

These renovations have been complimented by an impressive new dining hall and a parking garage that are both set to debut this fall.

After 13 months of construction, the Abel/Sandoz Dining Center will open on June 14 for UNL's various summer camps.

The dining center is expected to seat nearly 450 people - making it a bit smaller than the Selleck and Harper centers - but will feature all the same food stations.

"The décor is a bit fancier, and we're going to try some different things in terms of preparing food," Abel/Sandoz Dining manager Harry Tilley said.

The changes students can expect from Abel/Sandoz's new menu will be in its world's fare offerings, where Tilley expects there will now be nights devoted to barbeque and Cajun food during the school year.

The Husker Hoagies sandwich shop will also reopen on the first floor after it spent a year temporarily located in the Neihardt Lounge. Tilley said the shop will now feature an oven, allowing for toasted sandwiches.

"It should compliment things really well," he said. "People will eat here, and the amounts of people eating at each hall will be evened out quite a bit, and it should help everybody."

Abel/Sandoz's dining hall was closed for the 2009-2010 school year for those renovations. During the previous year, Tilley said, construction of Abel/Sandoz's new welcome center led to a bit of a decrease in popularity for the dining hall.

"I think because of all the construction, people didn't know we were there," Tilley said with a chuckle. "People would come up on a snow day and say, ‘We didn't know this was up here.'
"It's not that it was unpopular – it was just out of the way during Welcome Center construction," he said, noting that for many Sandoz residents, walking to Selleck was often an easier move.

Abel/Sandoz residents had quite a bit of walking to do in order to find parking during the 2009-2010 school year, due to the construction of the new parking garage on 19th and Vine Street.

The new garage, which is still under construction, is expected to hold 1,040 vehicles. The former surface lot will also have 60 open spaces outside the garage, which is located just east of Abel/Sandoz.

The garage will occupy a space that was solely devoted to surface spaces until 2009, and Parking and Transit Services director Dan Carpenter said in a November interview he expects the garage will mean even more available parking for UNL students.

"We're really looking forward to that garage," Carpenter said.

The goal in renovating Abel and Sandoz wasn't necessarily to make them the most popular dorms on UNL's campus, but rather to update them and bring them to the same level as the campus'  other popular, renovated dorms.

But make no mistake, Tilley wants his dining hall to be the most popular on campus this fall.

"I think everybody always has that goal. You want to be the most popular," he said. "We just want to do a good job and satisfy the students and customers we serve.

"We think people will be impressed when they see it," Tilley said.

maxolson@
dailynebraskan.com