Members of the UNO community congregrate inside The Cove following
the ribbon-cutting ceremony
In a festive ceremony, the University of New Orleans reopened The Cove, once the hub of student life at the University, for the first time since it was shuttered by Hurricane Katrina. The renovated $4.7 million, 16,000 square foot student dining and entertainment facilty features a food court, a main dining area, the Sandbar bar and live music venue, and a lushly landscaped courtyard with a fountain and fire pirts.
"Today marks a new beginning for The Cove, and it means we are turning yet another page in the story of the rebirth of UNO and the city of New Orleans," said Governor Bobby Jindal, who took part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony with other officials including UL System President Randy Moffett and UNO Interim Chancellor Joe King.
The Cove was originally built in 1973 as a student food and recreation center, and it quickly became the center of campus life. In 1990, UNO jazz studies director Ellis Marsalis turned The Cove into a living laboratory where UNO students performed with national and international jazz artists. Jazz at the Sandbar grew to become part of UNO’s academic and cultural fabric. Jazz at the Sandbar, now in its 21st year, offers the only regular live jazz in Gentilly, Lakeview and New Orleans East and will return to its permanent home in The Cove in the spring semester 2012.