By Beau Bowman
[email protected]

The smell of cafeteria food accompanied by the sounds of students shopping at the Hawk Shop sets the scene in the new IMU ground floor.

Although the 2008 flood wreaked havoc in eastern Iowa, Iowa City and Cedar Rapids were particularly hard hit.

The flood brought devastation to many parts of Iowa City, including the IMU. The flood damaged 83,000 square feet of the IMU’s lower level.

The IMU’s ground floor was shut down for several years until renovations could be made. Throughout the process, the upper levels of the IMU remained open.

Reconstruction of the ground floor became a recovery project of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the cost of the IMU’s mitigation and flood recovery was more than $21 million.

Cory Lockwood, an associate director of IMU events and facilities who has worked at the IMU since 1996, first as a student and then full time, said the renovations will protect against future flooding.

“Along with everything in the basement, the patio along the west side of the IMU is also a floodwall to protect us from something like that in the future,” he said.

The interior renovations were completed in April, and the exterior was finished in May.

Along with the Hawk Shop, there are eight services for students on the ground floor, including the Union Station Food Court, the Hawkeye Room, Learning Commons, the Java House, Hills Bank & Trust, an academic resource center, Student Legal Services, and the Student Health and Wellness Center.

Although, major inconveniences came with the renovations, the IMU remained open throughout the process, Lockwood said.

This year, the UI admitted more than 5,000 incoming freshmen, the largest class in the history of the school. The members will also be the first students in more than six years to experience the lower level of the IMU.

Many non-first-year students find convenience to be the most important aspect of the newly opened basement.

“Everything is down here,” UI junior Aubrey Siegle said. “You don’t have to go to a separate store. The Tech Connection [shop] used to be in a different place than the [Hawk Shop]. It’s really a one-stop-shop.”

UI junior Daniel Southwick, who works in the Hawk Shop, said he noticed the convenience of the newest addition to the IMU.

“Everything’s in one place,” he said. “It’s really easy to get all your supplies.”

But it does have a lack of appeal to those living off campus, Southwick said.

“For me, living off campus, it’s a little farther away than those living on campus,” he said.

Siegle said she had noticed a lot of students commenting on the new space.

“I’ve heard other people walking around down [in the IMU basement] who say, ‘Wow, there are so many people here,’ so there must be more than a normal number.”