The Moody Towers dining hall renovations, expected to start in the summer and be completed by this fall, have been delayed for a year for unclear reasons.
‘It’s been on hold for a year in terms of implementation,’ said former SGA president Sam Dike, who advocated for the renovation. ‘There are some issues that we needed to resolve in terms of the contract to start the renovation, It is going to be finished in time for the beginning of the school semester.’
The Quadrangle cafeteria that was also scheduled for renovation will be delayed as well.
‘Before we do that, we need to start and finish Moody Towers and then see what type of programs we would like to have at the Quads with focus groups before hand,’ Dike said.
The plans for the facilities and meals at Moody Towers have been scrutinized by various groups around campus.
‘We held several focus groups with the Food Service Advisory Committee, which is a university chair governance committee for faculty, staff and students,’ Dike said. ‘We also did a couple of dining town huddles at the Moody Towers to gauge the interest of students. I think we’ve done a lot of good background work in terms of talking to the students that lived in the residence halls. People have been waiting to see something like this on campus.’
Areas for improvement within the Moody Towers dining hall include the kitchen, the size of the cafeteria and to the types of food offered.
‘The size of the kitchen right now is too large,’ Dike said. ‘They are going to go away from the traditional cafeteria floor plan and in terms of food, move to a more fresh concept style where they prepare the food in front of you. There will be different stations, including a Mongolian kitchen, brick oven, soup-saut’eacute; station, as well as a traditional cafeteria station.’
The proposed $9.86 million renovation will include an increase in space.
‘It would also increase seating space by about 50 percent,’ Auxiliary Services Program Coordinator Jonas Chin said.
The Board of Regents approved a plan in February to renovate the Moody Towers, calculating nearly $10 million in costs for renovations funded through Aramark. However, the board will see the renovations proposal again in November.
As a result of the delay, renovations are scheduled for the end of the Spring 2010 semester.
‘The Moody Towers renovation project, pending approval from the Board of Regents in November 2009, would take place in summer of 2010,’ Chin said. ‘It’s an exciting project for the dining experience at the University, and we will continue to inform the campus community about developments in the project.’
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