Vacant building that was once Bridge Cafe | Photo by Diana Jaber | The Wright State Guardian
H2O Church hopes to rebuild and grow the community at Wright State University (WSU) by opening a new student lounge, The Landing.
Bringing community to WSU
“We just really missed having that presence on campus of community in person and so, while trying to be safe and practical, we really want to try to rebuild that community on campus and even grow it further than what it was before,” Matthew Eilerman, president of H2O Church, said.
For the last year, WSU’s campus community has primarily been virtual. H2O Church, a university organization and church on campus, wanted to change that.
While H2O will continue with their regular programs for the semester, they will also be spearheading the plans for renovating The Bridge and turning it into The Landing.
With the permission from the space’s owners, Crawford Hoying, H2O is using the space to bring students together.
The origins of The Landing
The Crawford Hoying group, a real estate development firm, owns several residence halls at WSU. This includes Honors Hall, where The Bridge was previously located and where The Landing will soon open.
“When we came here I’d heard so many positive things about The Bridge Cafe, how many people enjoyed it, and we were sad to see that it was closed. [H2O] approached us with an idea to roll out a very similar calendar of events but not sell coffee or anything, just offer additional programming and social activities for residents. And we thought that was a great idea of a great need for the campus,” Katie Manning, Property Manager for Crawford Hoying, said.
Crawford Hoying will be renovating the space. They are installing new flooring, painting the walls and providing new furniture. According to Manning, The Landing will only be half the space The Bridge used to occupy, with no current plans for the other half.
Eilerman and other students are looking forward to having another hangout space.
“I think it’s cool that they are making another student lounge because it gives us more options to go to,” student Alexis Escalera said.
Future plans for The Landing
While The Landing will not be a cafe, the student lounge has several upcoming programs and events. These include monthly recurring events like trivia nights, karaoke, open mic nights and video game tournaments.
Video games will include Super Smash Brothers, various sporting games, Halo and more. There are also plans for a Nintendo representative to visit.
“I know they were, they’re planning some, some pre release events and things like that to give students early access to different games and consoles potentially,” Eilerman said.
Other, one time events planned include different tournaments. Tournaments planned for October include Magic the Gathering, euchre, and a Dia de los Muertos taco bar.
“We want to really open up the space to allow other student organizations as well to come together and meet new people and host events on an as needed basis,” Eilerman said.
The Landing will open mid-September. Its hours are Monday through Friday from 5 p.m. to midnight and Saturday from noon to 6 p.m.
