Renovations to current facilities and the purchase of three nearby properties will allow the growth of law clinics and student groups.
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Elon University will expand its law school campus in downtown Greensboro with plans that call for the renovation of a 5,700-square-foot commercial property at 101 West Friendly Avenue and the recent purchase of three buildings within a half block of the law school for the expansion of the school’s law clinics and student organizations.
Elon’s renovation of the space at 101 West Friendly Avenue, for which the university holds a lease, will result in a 40-student classroom, study rooms, a student commons and a new Career Services Center. The renovation is scheduled to be complete by August 2012 prior to the start of the law school’s fall semester. Elon has used this space in recent years for law student organization workspace.
The three Greensboro properties acquired by Elon in December are located at 218 and 219 Friendly Avenue and 208 Commerce Place. The building at 218 Friendly Avenue is 1,200 square feet. Plans being considered for this space include offices for law clinics and student organization workspace. Renovation of this building also is anticipated to be complete by August 2012.
The building at 208 Commerce Place is 1,400 square feet. The parcel at 219 Friendly Avenue includes a 1,000 square foot building and parking lot. Private companies currently hold leases at these properties. While Elon has no immediate plans for the development of these two properties, all of the university’s recent building acquisitions in downtown Greensboro support the university’s long-range plans to provide facilities for future growth of the law school and its expanding course offerings, legal clinics and student organizations.
In 2009, Elon acquired 3,142 square feet of office space at 210 West Friendly Avenue, renovated it, and opened a Clinical Law Center in the space. With the help of a grant from The Cemala Foundation, the Clinical Law Center on Friendly Avenue was renovated during the winter term to allow the Humanitarian Immigration Law Clinic, the Wills Clinic and other clinics which may occupy the space to operate more efficiently. These renovations added two conference rooms for client meetings while retaining a classroom where students can be trained to represent these clients.
In 2011, Elon purchased three adjoining warehouse buildings located at 234 Commerce Place, 240 Commerce Place and 209 Bellemeade Street. Those warehouse buildings, built in the 1920s and 1930s, will be demolished this year and Elon will develop landscaped open space there with grass and plants while long-range plans for construction of law school and university facilities at the site are developed.
Elon University School of Law opened in 2006 in the former Greensboro Public Library building at 201 North Greene Street. The building and connected annex totaling 84,000 square feet underwent an interior demolition and complete renovation to provide outstanding facilities for the school and office space for the North Carolina Business Court.