Business College moves a few blocks

The walls in Stephen Woodhouse's office were bare for the first time in 43 years Monday as the LDS Business College president sat amid stacks of boxes and empty halls.

"Everything's gone from here — it's just empty. It's not home anymore," Woodhouse said while cramming in a few last moments in his office at the Enos Wall mansion on South Temple. "It's been a great home for the college. We'll miss the physical home here, but what we take down there resides in our hearts."

Home to the LDS Business College since 1963, the mansion was cleaned out Monday as the college moved to its new campus at 300 W. North Temple. The two-year business school is trading in the stately charm of a South Temple mansion and carriage house for more than double the space in the 10-floor campus on the northeast corner of the Triad Center.

Instead of the cozy ambience of fireplaces and the rich tones of antique wood trim, the college's 1,300 students will be met this fall in 140,000 square feet of contemporary classrooms, lecture halls and open common areas.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has not yet made plans for the 102-year-old mansion, Woodhouse said.

"There's nostalgia here," he said. "We've been here a long time, but you close one door and open another and move on with your life."

Woodhouse hopes the switch will only strengthen the school by unifying students and expanding the student body. With more space for a student commons and larger gathering places, Woodhouse said the new digs will allow students to socialize while spending more time on campus.

In the mansion, a foosball table and a few chairs in the lobby served as the only student hangouts, he said.

More student housing for both men and women will also bring students to the campus. A renovated Travelodge hotel will accommodate 96 male students, and several floors of the Plaza Hotel will house 132 females.

The Brigham Young University Salt Lake Center will also be moving to the Triad Center in the fall of 2007. It will share a library and bookstore with LDS Business College.

"We'll have more space, and the students will have access to TRAX, more businesses and restaurants. They'll be in the heart of Salt Lake City instead of a few blocks away," Woodhouse said.

The expanded space of the new campus will allow the school to focus on career development with a new career center. Instead of just helping students pick the right classes for their major, school leaders want to help students start on a career path.

"The little things we are giving up at the old campus are miniscule in the face of huge opportunities there will be for the students at the new campus," said Louise Brown, communications director for the college. "We'll be far better able to serve students' needs, controlled growth can happen and the technology will obviously grow with us at the new campus."

As part of the move, the college will be sponsoring a handcart trek from its old campus to the Triad Center on Wednesday. Residents and school officials can volunteer to pull the school's library materials down North Temple.

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E-mail: estewart@desnews.com