Students are voicing their approval of a potential new Wendy’s restaurant on South Campus.
The consensus is that the opening of the eatery will provide more food options to the students who live near South Campus or park at South Lot.
“I believe that opening a Wendy’s on South Campus is beneficial to our students, even if it is only for the mere reason of having food closer to our students who may live near South Campus, or spend a majority of (their) time in that vicinity,” ASUNM President Jenna Hagengruber said.
The ability to provide students with more options creates an environment that, even if a student chooses not to eat at Wendy’s, creates a “college town” feel, she said.
“South Campus is removed from main campus, yet a large amount of our students live in houses off of Gibson or south of Central, at Lobo Village or The Cottages,” she said. "These students, therefore, will spend more time around South Campus, and should still be provided with the ‘on-campus, college town’ feel they would receive if they were on main campus."
Hagengruber said the addition of even one restaurant could be the start of making South Campus a destination area for many students.
Earlier this month, the Board of Regents approved a ground lease for the new Wendy’s restaurant near UNM's South Campus, according to a University press release.
JAAB Restaurant Holdings, LLC, which has the Wendy’s franchise rights for New Mexico and currently operates approximately 40 stores in New Mexico and El Paso, will lease about 1.2 acres of land from the University for an initial term of 15 years. The anticipated opening is spring 2016, according to the statement.
“This segment of the Gibson Boulevard corridor has emerged as a restaurant and service hub, providing a number of new options for area residents, students, commuters and attendees of events held at the various sports venues, “ UNM Director of Real Estate Tom Neale said in the statement.
According to the press release, the project is part of a comprehensive Lobo Development master plan to develop a portion of the South Campus into a retail and commercial district to support UNM's long-term goals.
Hagengruber said she believes that those who did make the decision to open the Wendy’s on campus did their research prior to any vote.
“I think this is one of those pronouncements that is difficult to decide how heavy of a student voice should be heard when weighing options about which type of food to bring, seeing as many students would not agree with their peers about their ‘go-to’ food choice,” she said.
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However, she said she imagines students will appreciate being given a voice in related decisions in the future.
Felipe Rodriguez, a sophomore psychology major, said he thinks opening a Wendy’s on South Campus is not a good idea because theirs is already one near main campus on Central Avenue.
“It’ll affect their sales,” he said. "For me, it’ll be cool because I park in South Lot and I can go there, have some Wendy’s."
In contrast, Aidan Parish, a freshman astrophysics major, said having a Wendy’s on South Campus might be nice.
“There’s a variety of food on campus already, but not a Wendy’s,” he said. "I guess we can add to the variety of food that already exists. It’s cool, go for it -- why not?"
Lobo Development hopes to eventually make the South Campus area near WisePies Arena and University Stadium into a sports entertainment district, according to the UNM press release.
Sayyed Shah is the assistant news editor at the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at assistant-news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @mianfawadshah.
