Construction began last week in the Mayer Campus Center's first-floor lounge and will likely be completed in November at the same time as the Hotung renovations.
The Daily reported last week that this work would be indefinitely delayed while the Hotung renovations move forward, quoting Vice President of Operations John Roberto as saying that the lounge work would be included if possible.
Roberto said last Wednesday, however, that the construction had been given the green light, following an increase in available funding.
While there initially were not enough funds to renovate the lounge, Executive Administrative Dean of Arts and Sciences Leah McIntosh freed up $70,000 following an August meeting with Tufts Community Union (TCU) President Neil DiBiase.
"[He] made a very compelling case about why he and why the Senate felt it was so important," McIntosh said.
When completed, the lounge will feature new furniture, carpeting, paint, game-room equipment and at least one flat-screen television.
"The whole place is being gutted and they are starting from scratch," TCU Historian Alex Pryor said.
Funding for the project was initially limited because the renovations to the dining area and balcony in Hotung came with a price tag of around $1 million, significantly more than the administration had initially expected.
According to DiBiase, that meant that the first-floor lounge would have had to have been placed on the back burner were it not for the $70,000.
"Without that money we would have had to wait," he said.
Taken as a whole, the renovations to the first-floor lounge and Hotung aim to make the Campus Center a more welcoming place.
"The Campus Center is already the center for academic and extracurricular life on campus," Pryor said. "We hope to make it the center of social life as well."
