The new campus center on Fordham’s Rose Hill campus has been under construction since January of 2020. The entire construction project is not projected to be completed until 2025, but students may be able to access amenities in “Phase One” of construction as soon as “late fall,” according to John Spaccarelli, director of Special Projects and Facilities. 

According to Stephen Clarke, assistant director for Campus Center Operations, Phase One of the project includes an improved student lounge and fitness center space. This initial phase also includes new, sleek office space for campus ministry, career services and the Center for Community Engaged Learning. 

“Phase Two” includes the finishing of a grand arcade that will connect the new building to the existing McGinley Center. This second phase is anticipated to be finished in 2023, according to Clarke. 

“Phase Three” of the project includes renovating the McGinley Center. This includes areas such as the Marketplace, post office and club suites. 

The new campus center will contain three floors and a basement level. The lowest level will eventually be entirely fitness equipment and gym facilities, likely including a varsity athletics training space, said Spaccarelli. The gym will contain Olympic equipment, as well as expanded cardio and lifting sections. The current expansion of the fitness center is already bigger than the existing Ram Fit Center, said Spaccarelli.

The first floor of the new building will be entirely a student lounge. The lounge will contain vending machines and possibly a “grab and go” food station, though this addition wouldn’t come for another few years, said Clarke. There will be monitors on the wall and several meeting rooms for students. 

The second floor will be home to the new Campus Ministry offices as well Career Services. The new office for Career Services will have ten “interview rooms” that have switchable glass, allowing students to adjust the transparency of glass dividing walls for privacy purposes. Both offices will also include a pantry space.

The third floor will be home to a new “special event” space. This event space will likely cater towards “higher-end events,” such as alumni events, award ceremonies and banquets, according to Clarke. The new event space has ornately-carved stations of the cross set into the main wall, which were formerly featured on the second floor of the McGinley Center. 

On each floor of the new campus center, there will be gender neutral bathrooms in addition to men’s and women’s restrooms. In addition to the bathrooms, each floor will have space available for “mothering,” according to Clarke. 

New trees and benches will stand outside the building. Additionally, there will be brick pavement extending to the road, as well as new grass.

Construction on the building has been continuing quite steadily, despite many potential setbacks, said Spaccarelli. McGinley’s progress was not halted for very long by the COVID-19 pandemic and continued when the university went online in March 2020. “COVID allowed us to swing tractor trailers around without running into students,” joked Spaccarelli. 

Additionally, the flooding that occurred in early September of 2021 did not cause any pause in construction or any significant damages, said Spaccarelli. 

This fall marks Spaccarelli’s 30th year at Fordham, he said. He has worked on many other construction and renovation projects on the Rose Hill campus over the years, including Hughes Hall, Loyola Hall and Faber Hall.

Spaccarelli said he thinks the new building is looking great. “I just hope students respect it,” he said.