The Coquina Club, a student lounge, sits dormant on the east side of campus. Since the end of the spring term, its doors have been locked to students.
The Coquina Club was previously home to the Sodexo-run World of Wings Cafe, also known as the WOW Cafe. It was also a student lounge fitted with a pool table, several televisions and a small performance stage.
Sodexo General Manager Louis Duran said “financial difficulties” were to blame for the WOW Cafe’s closure. The amount of food purchased from the cafe was not enough to maintain costs to keep it open. Attempts were made to program more events, such as wing-eating contests and an Residence Hall Association bingo night, but Duran believes that there really needed to be a continuous stream of weekly events to generate attendance and sales. Duran also thinks that the WOW Cafe’s atmosphere was lacking: the televisions were small with poor reception, the pool table had a hole in one pocket, and the air hockey table didn’t work.
Duran hopes that Sodexo will once again be able to acquire the space, but with a different concept. He seeks student input on what goes there.
“If student’s want it, we’re for it,” Duran said.
Factors such as the amount of students on campus, students who depart on the weekends, and location of the Coquina lounge itself make it not the most ideal area to convene on campus. While The Reef is located in a residential hall in a centralized area of campus, junior Cynthia Wyre said, and students aren’t likely to make the trek out to the Coquina lounge.
Joseph Trubacz, regional vice chancellor of administrative & financial services, says the space is going to be used as a hub for campus tours. It’s possible that the space could open up as a student lounge this semester, but security for the room is still being worked out, according to Trubacz.
The final determination on what the Coquina Club will be hinges on the rebuilding of the pool, which he believes could happen in the Spring semester. Trubacz does not see the kitchen being used again, but likes the idea of a smoothie station to complement the pool, an idea Duran also would like to see.
Steven Bettner, director of business services, said that there is nothing definite as far as the plan for the Coquina Club. “It’s not highly likely that it will come back as a food service establishment as it has not been very popular (at least from a financial perspective), but I am lobbying for it in some capacity,” Bettner says.
Jozef Gherman, student government chief financial officer said SG plans to be involved, as they find it important to keep the space in students’ hands or else he believes administration could turn around and use the space for administrative purposes. SG plans to hold activities and events at the Coquina Club that would appeal to the students to increase student traffic there.
