The newly renovated Yon Hall held its grand opening Friday morning.
Its renovations began last December to expand research projects and attract new researchers to UF’s College of Health and Human Performance. The $1.4 million expansion includes new office spaces for research, as well as a bar-style alcohol lab to study substance abuse.
"They didn’t have enough space to do what they wanted to," said Christine Coombes, director of communications for the college.
She said 70 people RSVP’d to the grand opening of Yon Hall, which had been open before but closed because of problems with the electrical system and asbestos.
In the last 50 years, Yon Hall has served many roles, said Michael Reid, dean of the college.
Yon originally operated as a residence hall for male athletes until a National Collegiate Athletic Association ruling abolished athletic residence halls. In 1996, the college’s Living Well Faculty and Staff Wellness Center was moved to the building. In 2014, Living Well closed and the building was renovated for Health and Human Performance research, according to the UF Foundation website.
"Today, you get to see the reborn result," Reid said at the ceremony.
UF health education and behavior senior Nicole Morgan, who attended the grand opening, said she is excited for the renovations.
She said she might try doing substance-abuse research in one of Yon’s alcohol research labs.
Tom Clanton, a professor of applied physiology and kinesiology, said the hall is completely different now than it was a few months ago.
It’s not an evolution, he said, "It’s a revolution."
Contact Caitlin Ostroff at costroff@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @Ceostroff
Jamie Harshman, a 21-year-old UF business and mechanical engineering senior, walks his bicycle to the bike rack located at the entrance of Yon Hall September 8, 2015.
