After nine months of construction, the Memorial Union Terrace will temporarily reopen May 12-15 for graduation weekend.
When UW-Madison’s Memorial Union Terrace closed late last summer for renovations, construction workers had plenty to do: replace the pavement, expand seating areas, build a new food stand and improve the Terrace’s stage.
But as construction progressed, the Union added one more task to its list — preserving the stately, decades-old oak trees growing at the center of the Terrace. As construction began, officials assessed the health of the trees and decided to take extra steps to preserve the iconic oaks that have shaded Terrace-goers for generations.
“When you see the Union, from 1928 until now, you see those oak trees — they’ve always been there,” Guthier says. “There’s a real love and appreciation for the character they bring.”
Union officials consulted with UW-Madison arborist Bruce Allison to determine how to keep the trees healthy during the renovation and contracted with an outside firm to take on the extra project. The process was meticulous — workers used pressurized air instead of shovels to excavate around the roots and brought in a conveyor belt instead of a bulldozer to move aggregate back onto the Terrace. They used a special type of stone that was “more hospitable” to the oaks to provide a bed for the new pavers and added nutrients throughout the renovation.
“We were more than happy to take those extra efforts,” Guthier says.
Not all the Terrace trees were so lucky — some had to be removed during the renovation because they were unhealthy, and others came down to accommodate the design of the new Alumni Park that’s replacing the parking lot between the Union and the Red Gym. But in the spirit of sustainability, workers harvested the lumber and will incorporate the wood into other parts of the Union — mostly in the new Italian restaurant that opens this fall.
The Terrace temporarily reopens this weekend for graduation. Students are invited to pitch in and help set out the sunburst chairs on Thursday, May 12, at 3:30 p.m. The Terrace will close at midnight on May 15 for more construction and will tentatively reopen for the season on May 20. The rest of the interior and exterior remodel project is “roughly” on schedule, with other parts of the Union reopening in the fall of 2016 and completion scheduled for 2017.
“There’s a ton of student excitement,” Memorial Union president Jack Comeau says. “It’s a constant topic of conversation.”
With construction entering the final phase of the project, the 2016 season is seen as a “soft opening” for much of the space. But Union staff are rolling out a variety of new programming this summer, including morning yoga classes (land-based and stand-up paddleboard) six days a week, a family-friendly outdoor film series on Sunday nights and art classes from Wheelhouse Studios throughout the summer. Food and beverages will still be available at the brat stand, Der Siftskeller and the Sunset Lounge over the summer, but the remainder of the restaurants won’t be fully operational until next year.
A bigger stage and a more powerful sound system will provide a better entertainment venue, says Brian Edwards, director of the Wisconsin Union Directorate music committee. This year’s summer concert series is focused “almost exclusively on Wisconsin talent,” but next year’s lineup is likely to include national touring acts.
Says Edwards: “We’re really going to be focusing on bringing the Wisconsin Union in all of its glory in 2017.”
Editor’s note: Isthmus publisher Jeff Haupt is an associate trustee of the Wisconsin Union.
