T
14 • GCU TODAY
Cover
Story
Expansion will construct
an even loftier sense of
community at GCU
S T O R Y B Y R I C K V A C E K
P H O T O S B Y D A R R Y L W E B B
Tim Griffin used to live right next to
Disneyland, so close, he said, “I could have
broken a window in the Disneyland Hotel. I
could look out my window at 9:35 and watch
the fireworks every night. We would walk from
the front door of our house in Anaheim and be
at the front gate of Disneyland in less than 15
minutes — with strollers.”
These days, as pastor and dean of students
at Grand Canyon University, Griffin likes to
stroll around a campus that soon will have
a Disney-style hub of outdoor dining. Main
Street USA, meet Lopes Way.
But that isn’t the only major change that
has Griffin and others — including those who
haven’t even lived here yet — buzzing about
what’s ahead.
Under construction are four six-story
residence halls in a complex called The Grove
at the northwest corner of campus, an adjacent
parking garage and an engineering building on
Camelback Road next to Ethington Theatre.
Scheduled to be built over the summer are
food outlets and eating areas along Lopes Way,
a new soccer stadium next to Antelope Gym, a
four-story office building in a central location
and a student entertainment center in Thunder
Alley. (See map on Pages 16-17)
It is a dramatic shift in the look and feel
of a campus that by the end of 2015 will have
grown from 900 to 15,000 students and from
100 to 240 acres in just seven years. And the
centerpiece will be Lopes Way, which with
new outdoor dining areas will be the heartbeat
of campus in the same way Main Street
USA leads to Frontierland, Fantasyland and
Tomorrowland.
“What we’re envisioning is that it’s going to
turn into a huge culture-builder,” Griffin said.
“It’s going to be like a European promenade
where you walk around and you have people
eating inside and outside. I think it’s going to
be a great hangout zone.”
Like everything at GCU, the design is
purposeful, said President/CEO Brian Mueller.
“When parents and students come on to our
campus, we want them to have a sense of
community, fellowship, friendship, kindness
and compassion,” Mueller said. “And we want
to take advantage of one of the greatest things
Arizona has to offer — weather.”
Here, then, is your forecast to all the
attractions that will open at GCU in just a few
months. Get ready for a wild ride.
Building
Momentum
A new era is dawning at GCUwith the rise of the
engineering building (foreground) and four new
six-story residence halls in The Grove (top of photo).
