Less than two years after reopening, the future of UW-Madison’s University Club is uncertain, with financial challenges leaving the historic building closed for the foreseeable future.
The Wisconsin Union closed the building this summer to “reevaluate operations” after its recently-opened café generated one-third of its anticipated revenue, Wisconsin Union spokesperson Shauna Breneman says.
“University Club remains closed to the public as the evaluation of its sustainable financial future and long-term planning continue,” Breneman says.
The Tudor Revival-style building long served as the home of the University Club, a private social organization founded in 1907 to promote connections in the campus community. The social club went bankrupt in 2020, and University Club members voted in 2021 to let the building fall under Wisconsin Union management. After a stint as a COVID-19 testing site from 2021-22, the Union Directorate renovated the building with new dining equipment, updated plumbing and redesigned spaces, according to Breneman. The club reopened in January 2023 as “Union Commons,” a café and study space.
While in operation, many UW-Madison students used the renovated space as a meeting area or study spot. Leather couches, chandeliers and antique furniture gave the building’s atmosphere a more vintage feel compared to many campus academic halls or libraries.
Studying at the tables outside the building — as many students still do — on a mild mid-October day is John Merritt, an undergraduate philosophy student. Merritt says he used the building’s interior café as a study spot on several occasions and appreciated the building’s older style of architecture. He called the closure, which he learned of from this Isthmus reporter, a “disappointment.”
Though UW-Madison is studying the club’s financial future and “long-term planning,” Breneman says there is no projected date for the study’s completion. In the meantime, Breneman says there are nearby alternatives.
“We, the nonprofit Wisconsin Union, continue to offer spaces throughout campus for gathering, studying, dining, events and activities,” Breneman says. “This includes Memorial Union, located across Library Mall from the University Club, and the nearby Chazen Café.”
