Copies Plus to close, making way for renovations

Copies Plus, the shop that provides students at the University at Albany with photocopying, binding, bus tickets and tickets to campus events, will be closed down permanently on April 30.

Copies Plus will be shut down due to the start of the univerisity’s multi-million dollar project to renovate the Campus Center.

John Murphy, UAlbany’s associate vice president for student affairs, said the initial phase of the three-phase project will begin in May and will cost an estimated $1.5 million.

“I don’t envision this being a huge loss of service,” Murphy said.

This initial phase will renovate the lobby area of the Campus Center to improve aesthetics and increase the area for tabling and other facilities. The west and east ends of the lobby will also be extended.

When the Campus Center was originally designed, the lobby was created to fit a campus population of around 4,000. The current university population is well over 10,000. Construction plans are designed to better serve this larger group.

Josh Sussman, president of the Student Association, said there will be a “student friendly area” where Copies Plus currently stands. This will be an area with chairs and tables, more or less acting as a lounge.

The services provided by Copies Plus will be dispersed among multiple areas. For copying and binding needs, students can go to the Rapid Copy Center located in the basement of the Business Administration Building.

The Rapid Copy Center provides all of the same services as Copies Plus excluding the sale of bus and concert tickets. Murphy said there will be a window next to SA that will be open to sell bus and concert tickets.

There was no way they would be able to relocate Copies Plus to another area, Murphy said.. The size of the machines and the ventilation needed to maintain the service was not reproducible anywhere else.

Ryan Walz, manager of Copies Plus, that he doesn’t think they need to remove Copies Plus at all.

“This place is such a vital asset to students. I don’t understand why Campus Center management wants to shut us down,” Walz said.

Walz said that Rapid Copy can provide some of the same services, but its location is inconvenient for most students compared to Copies Plus There is already a lounge right by Copies Plus that is heavily underused by students, Walz said.

One thing Walz wasn’t concerned about was future job opportunities for the staff of Copies Plus.

“We have seven people on staff and four of us are returning,” Walz said. He said he was told by Sussman and SA Vice President Alex Pena that they are more than willing to find jobs for the returning staff next semester.  Murphy said the displaced workers would most likely find jobs at the new window by SA, selling bus and concert tickets.

Murphy said he prefers to think of Campus Center as a “community center” and that is what this project promises.

The first phase, aside from the elimination of Copies Plus, will also add an information center and an equipment center to rent out things such as ping-pong paddles and pool cues. The black stone that dominates the color scheme of the lobby will be replaced with a lighter color as well and more sound-absorbent walls will be added to reduce the echo in the lobby creating a more cozy feeling.

The second phase of the project will cost around $40 million. The plans for this stage include adding a 20,000 square foot wellness center to campus center and adding a second story to the campus center bookstore. The outdoor garden area next to the Campus Center food court will also have a roof added to it so it is accessible during the winter months.

Construction for the lobby is set to begin after commencement and is scheduled to be finished by late August, however, Murphy concedes that “with my experience with construction projects, we could be talking September, October, or November.”