The Alumni Association has left the building.

In July, the association moved its office in July from the Memorial Union to Fisher-Nickell Hall, a former residence hall.

They won’t be there long, however, as a new alumni center was recently approved by the Board of Regents for construction at the Iowa State Center.

With the Union starting renovations on some areas and the association pursuing its own facility, the timing seemed ideal, said Andrea Rheinhart, president of the Student Alumni Leadership Council.

“It made sense for the timing to move into a temporary space,” she said.

In the meantime, the University Book Store will rent the space in the Memorial Union until renovations begin. The book store however, will not keep the space long term, said Lynette Seymour, general manager.

The renovations will create kitchens for catering events in the Union and allow more accessibility to the rooms near the former Alumni Association offices.

The association should be able to move into their permanent offices in about three years, said Jeff Johnson, Alumni Association director.

The move out of the Union starts the transition and lets the association enjoy a few benefits its Memorial Union office didn’t allow, Johnson said.

“We see it as positive,” he said. “We’re enjoying the location; the fact that we have windows.”

The new location should be easier to find than the former offices in the southeast corner of the Union’s first floor. The maze of hallways caused a number of calls from confused visitors attempting to locate the association’s offices, Johnson said.

Fisher-Nickell is a smaller, but separate building, making it easier to locate.

“Very few people at times could figure out where we were,” Johnson said. “Now it’s easier — they just appear.”

Another benefit of the move is extra storage space, giving them better access to materials, Johnson said.

“We have extra room and the ability now to have all our necessary event planning material on-site rather than off-campus storage,” he said.

Johnson said the new location hasn’t hurt recruitment for the Student Alumni Association. Student traffic has been great because so many students pass by Fisher-Nickell on their way to and from Richardson Court Association residence halls.

“On the recruiting side, we’re right in the heart of where a lot of the freshmen are,” he said.

Rheinhart said the move didn’t affect recruitment because the group has continued to be present in multiple places on campus. In fact, Rheinhart said student alumni association membership sales increased from last year. Although more planning is required for events on Central Campus due to distance, the space is acceptable, Rheinhart said.

“We actually think that it’s a really good space,” she said. “I would even go so far as to say it’s a better one than we had in the Memorial Union.”

Johnson said he felt the discount program available to SAA members was beneficial enough to draw students to the new location.

“When the benefit is great, I think students will come to the benefit,” he said.