Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University is tripling the size of its downtown Phoenix offices with a relocation to the Spanish-style designed Mercado Center, located at 502 E. Monroe St. Barrett will move into the Mercado B Suite space in mid-August.

Barrett Honors College offices are currently located across two floors of the University Center (UCENT) located at 411 N. Central Ave. in Phoenix. More than 600 honors students attend classes at the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus, representing the second largest group of honors students at the university. 

The new 12,000-square-foot space at the Mercado will house four seminar-style classrooms and student engagement and collaborative event space, including a conference room for meetings and thesis defense presentations, a writing center, a computer lab, faculty and staff offices, and a multipurpose area for small and large events.

Additional amenities include video and audio equipment that can be used for interviews and presentations, space for a rotating artwork display, refrigerators and microwaves, a punching bag for knocking out stress, and a “thesis gong” for students to ring when they submit their completed theses.

Classrooms will be tailored specifically for Barrett’s student-centric model of seminar-style learning. One classroom will be dedicated to the college’s global classroom program that connects Barrett classes to classrooms and students in various countries, mirroring the same concept offered at the Barrett Tempe campus. 

“We are proud of our growth at Barrett and excited for this new center to house Barrett Downtown Phoenix and its dynamic spaces for student programming,” said Mark Jacobs, ASU Vice Provost and Dean of Barrett Honors College. “It will better integrate academic spaces while bringing staff, faculty and students together to work more closely in a synergistic environment,” Jacobs said.

The new Barrett space will open in phases. In Phase One, faculty and staff offices will open Aug. 20, with meeting rooms, collaborative spaces, student lounge, computer lab, and writing center opening as the spaces are built out and furnished throughout the fall. In Phase Two, classrooms will open in mid-October and classes will be scheduled into the new classrooms for the spring 2020 semester. In the fall 2019 semester, Barrett classes will be held in the UCENT and other ASU Downtown buildings. 

An open house for students to see the new Barrett Downtown Phoenix offices will be held 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Aug. 22.

The Mercado is comprised of six buildings accommodating a variety of ASU colleges, classrooms and offices with some space leased to local businesses.