ASU officially unveils College Avenue Commons building
Sep 3, 2014, 4:30 PM | Updated: 4:59 pm
TEMPE, Ariz. — Arizona State University officially opened the College Avenue Commons near College Avenue and University Drive on Wednesday morning.
The new building will be the home of ASU’s Del E. Webb School of Construction.
“It’s about 137,000 square feet and a $54 million investment for the university,” said ASU Executive Vice President Morgan Olsen. “It is designed to host our Fulton School of Engineering Unit that teaches about sustainability and construction.”
Olsen called the College Avenue Commons a great addition to the university. Despite Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting, classes began in the building last week.
“There are about 400 students who are taking classes at any given time in this building, and there’s a larger number who will take classes over the course of a week,” he said. “ASU has 17,000 engineering students, so I imagine that, at one time or another, a good portion of those will experience at least one class inside this facility.”
College Avenue Commons also houses the Sun Devil Welcome center. About 10,000 high school and community college students who are considering attending ASU will begin campus tours in the building.
Olsen said the new structure will play home to more than classrooms. Several restaurants, including a new Postino location, will open soon. There’s also a small and a clothing and gift store on the first floor. The second floor offers Pitchforks & Corks, a coffee and wine bar that overlooks College Avenue.
“At night or on the weekend, I can come over here and have a bite to eat,” he said. “If you come to a Sun Devil sporting event, this a great place to come either during the pre-game or post-game.”
The Commons will host a pregame party for home football games.
“We will be providing shade, there will be misters, there will be tables and chairs, a food truck,” said Angela Creedon with ASU. “We’ll have a (disk jockey), music and various lawn games for family-friendly activities.”
The building offers outdoor space that features balconies with drop-down video screens, a deck and patios.
KTAR’s Lauren Grifo contributed to this report.
