By admin 
A long-discussed reimagining of the University of South Carolina’s beloved, but overstretched student union is beginning to take shape after the board of trustees last week voted to move forward with plans to expand and renovate the Russell House.
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While nothing is set in stone, the current plan calls for replacing the building’s aging west wing and the nearby Thomson Building, located across from the Bull Street parking garage, to create a larger ballroom, more space for student organizations and additional dining capacity in what is currently one of the smallest student unions in the Southeastern Conference.
“The expansion of the Russell House marks a new era of the student experience at the University of South Carolina,” USC Student Body President Cole Rotondo said in a statement. “This project will provide an improved space where students can learn, lead, connect and create the memories that define the Gamecock experience.”
The multiphase project would also address internal maintenance needs in the oldest sections of the 72-year-old Russell House, functionally and architecturally modernize the building and make traversing its sometimes incoherent layout more convenient for students.
A number of key retail services currently located in the student union, including the bookstore, hair salon, post office, print shop, credit union and retail dining, may also be relocated to South Main Street, where the university owns property it is in the process of developing.
“The thinking is that we could export those services to that Main Street development, which has the benefit of revitalizing Main Street,” university architect Derek Gruner said in an interview with The State Media Co. “And then the space that’s created in the Russell House by having relocated those functions can be devoted to services that really ought to be in a student union, like recreation areas, game areas, student org meeting space and things like that. So it’s really a win-win.”
The entire project, which is estimated to cost $250 million, could take up to five years to complete.
It will be funded by state institution bonds, which are secured by a pledge of tuition fee revenues. To finance the bonds, the USC board recently approved a $150 per semester student union expansion fee, as part of its 2026-27 budget.
Because the bustling student union, located along Greene Street in the heart of campus, will need to remain open throughout the process, the project is expected to be one of the more logistically difficult construction jobs the university has undertaken.
“Our challenge is that we still have to feed the students at the Russell House. There are still meetings and ballroom events and things like that that have to happen all during the construction,” Gruner said. “So when the Russell House is occupied here, we might be doing an expansion over there. And we have to plan for how the contractor and the occupants of that building can coexist.”
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The anticipated logistical headache is a small price to pay for movement on a project that both students and university officials have long viewed as a top priority.
Rex Tolliver, USC’s vice president of student affairs, said the Russell House expansion and renovation has been on the minds of students for as long as he’s been at the university.
“Since I’ve been here for the last four years, all of our student body presidents have worked with various segments of students through their administration to get feedback and provide that to us as we begin to try to plan out what this is for students,” he said. “The Russell House, the student center, in many cases, is described as the living room of campus, because it is where all students have to come in at some point or another for some engagement.”
Student feedback on the Russell House has been consistent, Tolliver said. They want more space to eat, meet and hold functions.
He said that because the number of gathering spots on campus hasn’t kept pace with the explosion in enrollment, students needing to meet often must procure space off campus, and pay extra to do so.
A reconfigured Russell House would save students money and keep them from having to navigate public transit to off-campus locations, he said.
With the USC board’s recent approval of the project for Phase I design, the Russell House expansion and renovation moves into the first stage of architectural planning.
Normally a six-to-eight-month process, Gruner said he thought it could take up to a year to determine how best to expend the allocated funds and get a clearer picture of the project’s cost and timeline.
Before the university can hire an architect and solidify the project’s schematics and design, however, it must first get approval from the South Carolina Joint Bond Review Committee and State Fiscal Accountability Authority.
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The , Gruner said.