Ballroom to get makeover

By Chris Beauchamp

The University of Calgary Students’ Union will be giving the MacEwan Student Centre Ballroom a $150,000 face-lift. However, the project has to be finished on a tight timeline or the SU will lose a $75,000 grant from the Alberta government.

The grant was awarded to the SU in 2003 on the condition that it be used to replace the Ballroom’s floor and that the SU match the money. Initially the grant was set to expire this fall, but the SU applied for an extension to February 2006. Consequently, the money will be lost unless the project is completed by then. Construction will begin in January.

“It certainly is on short notice but it’s not that complex of a project,” said SU Vice-President Operations and Finance Joel Lockwood. “We’ve really tried to do our best to accommodate the people who regularly use the ballroom.”

Lockwood said January and February are some of the slowest months for the Ballroom and that other arrangements have been made for those who had booked the space.

The project is budgeted at $149,800 and will see the floor replaced, new paint, new drapes, the removal of the bar and new lighting that will allow the lights to be dimmed.

Within the next five years, the SU plans to do a complete $1-2 million reno on the room.

“We’re just doing the surface right now,” said Lockwood.