Quiet conversation rolls back and forth across the sunlit room as college kids lounge comfortably, some sipping coffee while others enjoy cupcakes, trade laughs or tap away on their laptops. 

“For the past two years, we haven’t had a building, and it is really nice to have everyone back in this new place,” said Alieza Schvimer, 22, an English major. “They know they can come for Jewish cultural and Israel programming on campus. It’s nice to have a place that feels like a home away from home.”

That’s certainly the atmosphere the St. Louis Hillel was hoping to create with a million-dollar refurbishment of its facility at Washington University. Opened to the public in February, the revamp represents a strong blend of the old and the new. The organization cut its footprint roughly in half by selling off a chunk of land containing a decades-old addition that had long served as Hillel’s entryway. 

Proceeds from the sale funded the renovation of a historic 10,000-square-foot Tudor-style home at 6300 Forsyth Boulevard that the campus group has been remodeling since 2011. The results are striking. Polished marble, hardwood and stone flooring, restored wooden accents and original lead glass windows highlight tasteful furnishings. The house was taken down to the studs and emerged with new plumbing, wiring and HVAC systems. 

Hillel’s administrative facilities were moved from the demolished addition to the upstairs of the house that had been a caretaker’s apartment. Now the area contains offices, a multipurpose room and storage space.

“Really, the house had always been a part of the Hillel facility, but it had become dilapidated in a lot of ways,” said Jackie Ulin Levey, president and CEO of Hillel. “It was a beautiful gem that just needed to be restored.”

Levey said the idea of creating a hangout destination with a more residential atmosphere was the result of feedback from a number of town halls with students. The facility is smaller, but the feeling was that there was less need for the old addition for Hillel gatherings. A recent Shabbat dinner was hosted comfortably on the lower level, and services can be held upstairs in the multipurpose area. In fact, last Friday, the weather was nice enough for students to worship outside on a new patio that features a fire pit.

“The old building was great for big events,” said Elana Kravitz, a psychology major who serves as president of the organization’s student leadership council. “We used that multipurpose space for a lot of things, but I would never have come to the building just to hang out. Since the building has reopened, I’ve been here multiple times a week.”

So has Ryan Friedman, 19, a student who has not yet settled on a major.

“It’s whenever I have a big break in my day and work to get done,” he said. “When I’m on campus and I don’t want to dig around for a place in the library, it is a good place to come.”

Schvimer says she loves the atmosphere of the place.

“I was here with the old building, and it was very ’60s and not very updated,” she said. “It is nice to have it more modern but also still feel very traditional.”

Schvimer says she especially enjoys the cafe-style area next to a modern kitchen that features a coffeemaker and warming rack for catered events, and plenty of room for weekend baking sessions for Challah for Hunger, a popular philanthropic effort at Hillel. It’s all part of creating a commercial space with a residential feel.

The kitchen also can be used for programming. A pass-through window to the cafe area allows for cooking demonstrations and classes to be visible to several rows of seated students. 

“They are part of the action, but not in the kitchen,” Levey said. “It creates a festive party feel and opens up the space.”

The project isn’t finished. A second phase will eventually see an addition extended from the back of the building to create more multipurpose space. Details on cost, timelines and square footage are not yet available.

At the same time, the lounge, the cafe and the entryway can easily host gatherings.

“All the spaces are multifunctional,” Levey said. “The idea is that we can use it for all different types of events.”