The Burge Union, shown at center right, on Friday, March 4, 2016, is slated to be razed and rebuilt and part of Kansas University's Central District redevelopment plans. In the upper left of the frame, below the Daisy Hill dorms, is some of the ongoing preparation for the Central District.

Kansas University’s Burge Union was built to accommodate rapid growth around Daisy Hill and 19th Street and Naismith Drive, the opposite side of campus as the original Kansas Memorial Union.

Nearly 40 years later, the Burge is being torn down and rebuilt for the same reason.

Soon, hundreds more students are going to reside in KU’s Central District, and they need a union — just not the same kind of union they needed when the Burge first opened in 1979.

“Over time, the Burge Union’s mission had to evolve and change,” said David Mucci, KU Memorial Unions director.

Following a decommissioning ceremony planned for 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Burge, the building will close for good March 11. It’s set for demolition later this spring.

A replacement union is scheduled to be constructed by fall 2018, in the area just south of the current building’s footprint. It’s one of several new buildings included in KU’s $350 million Central District redevelopment plan. An integrated science building and a parking garage will be clustered near it, according to KU’s plans.

New building, new purposes

When the Burge first opened as the “Satellite Student Union,” it was part of a national trend to build such satellite unions, particularly around residence halls, Mucci said. Initially, the whole top level was an open lounge.

Dorms have since become more self-contained, Mucci said, featuring their own lounges, amenities, computer labs and leisure spaces.

Demand for meeting spaces — including larger spaces — has increased, he said. One example is the KU Career Fair, which Mucci said has grown so large it has to be spread over three floors in the Kansas Union across campus, which is not ideal.

The new union will house a number of student support offices, as well as flexible meeting and event spaces, one of which is a ballroom roughly a third larger than the one in the Kansas Union, Mucci said.

Lauren Arney, a senior from Stilwell, Student Senator and president of the Memorial Unions Corporation Board, said the Burge’s main problem is a lack of usable spaces for student groups.

“They’re not open, they’re not really made for collaboration or shifting in sizes,” she said. “We’re hoping that this new space will have the opportunity for that.”

When the Burge closes, a number of offices there will move to temporary homes before returning to the new union once it’s constructed.

Other offices will permanently move elsewhere on campus.

The new union will not have a full-service dining option like the Burge does now, though it will have a coffee shop and convenience store.

The nearby DeBruce Center, expected to open by late April, will feature a cafeteria-style dining option.

Will Burge’s legacy live on?

The low-slung, beige and boxlike Burge is not a particularly striking building architecturally.

“I am not receiving a lot of concerns about the loss of the facility itself,” Mucci said. “The only concern I have been given is that it was named for (former Kansas Union Director) Frank Burge, who was revered and loved.”

A tribute to Burge will exist in the new building, Mucci said. It will feature the current building’s dedication plaque, a portrait of Burge and a historical panel highlighting the man known as “the most gracious host on campus.”

There is a chance the new union could bear his name, as well.

Most new KU buildings lately are named for their lead donors, but no private donations are being used to construct the new union.

Initial estimates budgeted construction costs to be around $10 million.

The union’s construction and operating costs will be funded by a student fee increase and sales from its coffee shop and convenience store, said Lisa Kring, KU Memorial Unions building services director.

The Kansas Board of Regents ultimately must approve the naming of any state university facility. KU has a Building Names Committee that accepts suggestions and makes recommendations to the chancellor and, ultimately, the regents.

Kring and Arney said they expect Union representatives and Student Senate to discuss ideas and present one — yet to be determined — to the committee for consideration.

History of the Burge

• The three-story, 31,500-square-foot union is located on Irving Hill Road between Jayhawker Towers and Allen Fieldhouse.

• Opened to students Aug. 20, 1979, as the Satellite Student Union.

• Construction cost was $2.5 million, paid for mostly by a student fee increase approved by a student body vote in 1976.

• Renamed the Frank R. Burge Union in 1983. Burge was the first full-time Kansas Union Director, a position he held for 30 years before his retirement in 1982.

• Burge was known for his union leadership and hospitable presence on campus, being called the “most gracious host on campus.” After retiring, Burge still frequented both the Burge and the Kansas unions until his death in 2004.

— Source: KUHistory.com

If you go

KU Memorial Unions will mark the closing of the Burge Union with a decommissioning ceremony at 2 p.m. Tuesday in the top floor lounge of the Burge, 1601 Irving Hill Road.

The Burge will close for good at the end of the day on March 11, and be torn down later this spring.

Tuesday’s ceremony is open to the public and will feature mini-rolls from Munchers Bakery — a tribute to the building’s namesake, the late Frank Burge, who was known to hand them out on campus after retiring as Union Director.