On Wednesday The University of Evansville celebrated the grand opening of the new student housing building — Lincoln Commons.
Aside from a ribbon-cutting, University of Evansville President Christopher Pietruszkiewicz announced which businesses would be taking the 3,500 square feet of ground floor retail space.
They will be Mexican restaurant chain Qdoba, and frozen yogurt company Orange Leaf.
This four-story building at the corner of Lincoln and Weinbach is for fourth year and graduate students.
This is the most recent in several new or renovated buildings by the university in the past few years — such as the nearby visual arts galleries and the Emily M. Young Assessment Center for mental health.
“This one adds to the vibrancy of our whole community, both here at the University of Evansville and in Evansville itself,” Pietruszkiewcz said.
Because of the ground floor restaurants, he said Lincoln Commons isn’t just for the students.
Pietruszkiewicz said units are one, two or four bedrooms with in-unit laundry and kitchen.
“We want our students to be able to start to understand what independent living is all about, and this is an opportunity for them to do that.”
Currently all 123 units are rented out.
Rachel Carpenter, UE President for Student Affairs, said Lincoln Commons was built to become a hub of student activity.
“It's going to be bustling with energy,” she said from the podium. “ It's designed to foster collaboration, creativity, but also camaraderie amongst all of our students.”
The building cost about $20 million, funded through a tax bond issuance. Pietruszkiewicz said they managed to complete the project on-time and under budget.
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