Luskin Conference Center reaches final stages of construction

By Meghan Hodges

This post was updated July 25 at 9:45 p.m.

Construction of the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center is now complete, as the center prepares for its soft opening Aug. 7.

The center will host a grand opening event Oct. 7.

The center, which is partly funded by a $40 million donation from alumni Meyer and Renee Luskin, cost a total of $162 million to build, said Peter Angelis, assistant vice chancellor of housing and hospitality services. Officials did not use funds from student fees or taxpayers.

Construction of the center began in 2013 and it is now about 99 percent complete, Angelis said. He added the remaining work includes simple cosmetic touch-ups.

The center will be equipped with 254 guest rooms, 25,000 square feet of meeting space, a ballroom, a restaurant and a lounge, according to a UCLA press release.

Angelis said it will also offer hotel rooms to accommodate friends or families visiting students, and attendees of conferences held at UCLA.

The Luskin Center was designed to host academic conferences, Angelis said. It will feature indoor and outdoor breakout spaces, board rooms with full conference call capabilities, meeting rooms with specially designed acoustics and nutrition hubs outside meeting rooms for attendees to grab healthy snacks. Each of the 29 meeting rooms is also fitted with audio and visual equipment, Angelis said.

“(We have designed) the layout of the meeting space so that it’s most conducive to campus academic needs,” Angelis said.

For more than a year, the Center has been taking reservations for groups who want to hold conferences, Angelis said. Reservations for people who want to stay in the hotel have been open for the past four weeks, he added.

Now that construction is complete, the center’s staff is continuing to focus on hiring employees, Angelis said. The center has received more than 6,200 applicants, and has hired 160 full-time staff and about 80 part-time staff since they began hiring in March.

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[Source]: Daily Bruin