Building Blocks – University of St. Thomas’ Anderson Student Center

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Location: Summit and Cretin avenues, St. Paul

Website: stthomas.edu/openingdoors/studentcenter

Year built: 2011

Square feet: 225,000

Cost: $66 million

Property description: Located at the southwest corner of the university’s main campus in St. Paul, the recently opened Anderson Student Center will likely become the gold standard for future student unions in Minnesota, if not the country. The three-story building’s Gothic design naturally fits into the campus’ prevailing architectural style. Yet inside, things are anything but Gothic.

The center’s focal point is a soaring three-story, 3,200-square-foot glass-enclosed atrium filled with Ikea-style furniture and a view of the campus quadrangle. Billed as “the living room” of the campus, it will surely become a popular destination for students.

The L-shaped Anderson Center’s central staircase, located in the atrium, rises to the second and third floors (and down to the basement), offering students a sweeping view of the atrium area. Floors are designed with wide hallways featuring seating areas and offices facing either Summit or the quad.

Several offices and meeting rooms — of which there are many — have large exterior and interior windows, giving the big building an enormous amount of natural light and an attractive openness. The northern facing rooms of the upper floors also offer great views of the football stadium.

Tenant mix: Food is no small part of the student center. The first floor features an entertainment area, game room, restaurant, store and information booth. The second floor has several university offices, a dining hall, a gallery devoted to the American Museum of Asmat Art and 13 meeting rooms.

The third floor offers a coffee and smoothie bar overlooking the atrium and a student leadership center with 24 computers that can be shared by more than 150 student clubs and organizations. Down the hall the James B. Woulfe Alumni Hall seats 900. The basement, meanwhile, offers bowling and a party area with a dance floor.

Intriguing tidbits: The Anderson Student Center replaces the Murray-Herrick Campus Center, which can be seen from the atrium looking east. Murray Hall opened in 1960, when the college had 1,771 students (most of them male). Although Herrick Hall was added in 1989, the combined center had outlived its purpose. Total enrollment last fall at St. Thomas was 10,534.  

The student center joins the $52 million Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex, just north of it, as the two new kids on campus. Lee and Penny Anderson donated more than $60 million to both projects. (Anderson runs APi, a New Brighton-based construction holding group composed of 32 independently managed companies.)

Opus Design Build LLC and Opus AE Group Inc. were the contractors and architects for the student center, and Boston-based Shepley Bulfinch collaborated on the architectural design.

Outside groups will be able to rent the center’s larger rooms for events and weddings. And St. Thomas officials say visitors are welcome at the student center. With a mission to be more sustainable, St. Thomas plans to seek a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. In that regard, don’t look for any paper menus or paper posters — they’re all digital.