Longwood University has recently acquired new property. Formerly the Century 21 building, at the corner of Madison Street and Venable Street, it is now referred to as the Meeks building. Lori Blackwood, Manager of Campus Planning & Design, said that the space is “temporarily being used for swing space.” Its primary usage, as of now, is a dance studio in place of Willett Hall. “It’s not as antiquate as what is in Willett,” said Blackwood, “but something that would suffice for this first semester until Willett comes back online.”
As of right now, no definite plan exists for Meeks. “It still needs to be decided what we’re going to do with that building,” said Blackwood, and added that talks of final plans “wouldn’t be anytime soon.”
One suggestion was to add additional parking in the area where the building currently stands. The problem with this is the lack of available space for an adequate lot. Meeks admitted that the university would like to acquire some of these lots. Although, the university has been unable to lock on to these properties while they are still under their leases. However, Blackwood noted that there have been “some conversations” regarding the properties, but she believes “the seller is not ready to sell.”
The current idea for Meeks is for it to continue being a source of swing space in the coming months, or even years. “Anything can change,” Blackwood added, “it really depends. Currently, the idea is for swing space as we’re going through all of these projects that are on the calendar that need to be taken care of.” Blackwood listed such projects as Willett and Coyner, which is expected to be “offline” for nine months, as well as a few more buildings expected to be completed. “We need more space until these buildings are built, but we may just have to keep it up for the next couple of years,” Blackwood finished by saying plans could change as early as summer, depending on circumstances.
For the time being, Longwood is not looking for more property acquisitions other than those between Venable and Main Street.
