$47M Purdue Memorial Union renovation: It’s in the details

Alumni wanted the Union to still feel like the Union. Here are some of the details Purdue put into the project to keep a historic feel. A look inside, before Monday's opening

(Photo: Dave Bangert)

Friday morning, crews were still wheeling in equipment, climbing scaffolding to install trim and otherwise generally putting final touches on a $47 million, 67,000-square-foot remodel of the Purdue Memorial Union’s ground floor, before a deadline when spring semester classes start Monday.

“We’re going to make it,” Zane Reif, director of the Purdue Memorial Union, said, as he led a tour of a ground floor that will include 12 dining concepts and bumped-up seating capacity.