Bloomfield Building finally to be owned by students

by Kristen Stallard

October 1, 2025 4:29 PM

On Sunday, September 20th, Students’ Union President Sandy MacIntosh revealed to Council that the Students’ Union is in negotiations with university administration to take ownership of parts of Bloomfield Centre.

Bloomfield Centre is currently owned by the university and operated through a Board of Directors. The new deal would see ownership of certain spaces transferred to the Students’ Union via a lease of $1.00 per year, while the administrative board would be dissolved.

Under the proposed agreement, the students’ union would gain control of the Golden X Inn, Students’ Union Executive offices, Council Chambers, and the Student Union Board Room.
The U would also gain control of the Bloomfield Information Desk, the Union Station Clothing Store and office, the Xaverian Weekly and CFXU office spaces, LGBQT offices, Campus Police offices, the Photo Dark Room, and several liquor storage areas already in use.

Meanwhile, the university would retain ownership of the rest of Bloomfield Centre. These areas include the MacKay Room and Lounge, Bloomfield Cafeteria, the Alumni Lounge, the Campus Bookstore and the Health Centre.

In addition, the university would continue to provide services related to the maintenance of the building. This would include the provision of utilities and services of Facilities Management.
According to Students’ Union President Sandy MacIntosh, the deal has been in the works for some time. StFX VP Finance and Operations Ramsay Duff approached MacIntosh with the proposal in April 2009.

Impetus for the transfer of ownership of Bloomfield Centre stemmed from several issues.
The students’ union has been requesting ownership of the Golden X Inn for several years. In addition, academic departments have complained about the rental fees associated with using space within Bloomfield Centre for academic purposes. Currently, societies also have to pay to hold events at Bloomfield Centre.

According to Bloomfield Centre Manager John Beaton, problems have also arisen around the use of Bloomfield Centre as a venue for campus and community events.

Bloomfield was first built in 1970, according to Beaton. “All events pertaining to happenings of the campus community took place in this building,” Beaton states.

As StFX added new venues for events such as the Keating Millennium Centre and Morrison Hall, Bloomfield Centre has lost out, and therefore lost money.

Conference Services maintain their head-quarters in Bloomfield Centre, a fact that has become less efficient as Bloomfield Centre begins to lose out to larger venues on campus. Under the proposal, all conference services for the university will be moved to the Keating Millennium Centre. The students’ union will maintain its own bar services and continue to use Bloomfield Centre for events.

To make up for lost revenue, Bloomfield Centre has had to resort to charging rental fees for meeting rooms as a way to generate money in recent years. The new agreement would make any non-profit event held at Bloomfield Centre free.

In addition, the students’ union has been given 12 free rentals of the MacKay Room, about one event per House Council. Rentals currently cost approximately $700.

The new system of ownership, including ownership of the Golden X Inn, the Information Desk, and Acadien Bus Lines Depot, would mean that The U would begin to receive all revenues from these services. In addition, the Students’ Union will be able to retain all of the approximately $150 in student fees it receives from each student. Bloomfield Centre currently retains $35 of this revenue.

While the students’ union will gain new sources of revenue, Beaton said he is leery of a few details of the agreement.

“Renovations in the past have taken place under the umbrella of the university,” Beaton described. “The only thing I would be leery with is it’s going to be hard for the Students’ Union to expand…Students had a say with the Board of Directors on administration, and they won’t have say anymore. If the university came and wanted to make offices in the lounge area, that’s their space.” Beaton warned.

In recent years, the Golden X Inn has also been losing substantial money. In May 2009, its net loss was $16,000. While the university is contributing $18,000 in transition funding to help buttress future losses, it will only be in effect for two years.

“Will $18,000 be enough (to help incur losses of the Golden X Inn)? It’s really hard to say,” Beaton wondered of the transition funding. “We only took (the amount) from past history. My feeling is if students feel that the bar is their bar, they’ll be more apt to support it, more so than going to Piper’s Pub or Pat’s Place (for social events),” Beaton says.

In the meantime, “Operation of the Golden X Inn will be consolidated within the whole operation of the students’ union. If the whole operation is making money…that way it can really support the Activities and Events Department and vice versa. It may end up being more of a positive to the student organization,” Beaton hopes.

MacIntosh said the university wanted the transfer to happen before classes resumed in September, but the students’ union chose to present the proposal to Council first.

MacIntosh stated the agreement is required to be passed by Council before it is ratified. The proposal is tabled for the next meeting of the students’ union council scheduled for October 18th and, should it pass, the deal would come into effect on January 1, 2010.

There are no plans to put the proposal to a student referendum, although MacIntosh said he would consider putting the details of the proposal on the students’ union website if Council felt students required more information.