The Starbucks in the Student Union opened in November 2017, but students can expect the opening of a second location in the Northside retail space in the near future.
Northside will see the construction of an additional 6,600 square feet of retail space on its eastern lot of land closest to the intersection of Floyd Road and Synergy Park Boulevard. Vice President for Facilities and Economic Development Calvin Jamison said the square footage of the Starbucks, which will be located in this lot, has yet to be determined.
“Starbucks has a corporate footprint that they utilize in terms of building new stores,” Jamison said. “If Northside Comet Town continues to evolve, and we are just being responsive to the demand that a store like Starbucks has created, not only on campus, but in the community.”
Computer science sophomore Pranjal Satija said he doesn’t know whether opening a Starbucks at Northside will alleviate the lines at the Starbucks on campus because of how far away Northside is.
“If you’re at the SU, it’s going to take 10 to 15 minutes to walk to Northside,” he said. “I just don’t think anyone is going to leave class and instead of going to the SU, take 15 minutes to walk to Northside to go to Starbucks and then 15 minutes to walk back.”
Jamison said it is not known what other retail partners will open locations in the developing east portion of Northside, but the goal is to provide services that cater to the needs of the student and local community and create an area adjacent to campus that has a college feel.
Satija said that, as an undergraduate student, UTD doesn’t feel like a college campus the way other universities do.
“You have to get in your car to go anywhere or to do anything versus if you go to a more conventional school, there is sort of a college downtown area, which you know we don’t have and I think that’s one of the big cultural things missing from UTD that a lot of people complain about,” he said.
As the campus and Northside continues to evolve, Jamison said it is a very exciting time to be a part of the growth of the university, especially as it continues to grow north.
“What made this possible was the fact that we wanted to create a transit-oriented, mixed-use development of residential, retail, restaurant and entertainment,” he said.
The opening day of the Northside Starbucks has not been decided, but Jamison said the community will be notified when the final details are completed, and they will likely be released in phases as new retail tenants are brought in.