D-Hall to close for half of spring term
During Marketplace renovations, first-years will be able to use their meal swipes at any dining location on campus
A Marketplace employee prepares the salad bar for dinner. Photo by Kaelan McCabe, ‘21.
March 18, 2019
Breakfast on Friday, May 3 will be the final chance for students to enjoy all-you-can-eat meals at the Marketplace this academic year. The dining hall will close for about a month in order to accomodate for renovations.
“Those are our slowest two weeks by far,” Andrew Watling, an assistant director for Dining Services, said. “We decided that we would go ahead and close it a little bit early.”
In order to compensate for the closure of the Marketplace, other dining locations on campus will have extended hours. On weekends, Café 77 will open earlier and the E. Café will offer dinner service some nights. Sorority dining will remain the same.
Currently, first-years can only use their meal swipes at the Marketplace. But, during the renovations, first-years will be able to use their meal swipes at any location on campus.
“It will be nice to be able to use our meal swipes at other places on campus since we haven’t been able to this year. It’ll give us a little peek into what next year is like,” said Katie Kern, ‘22. “But the other places to eat are a little farther and more inconvenient.”
The Marketplace renovations will be “mostly cosmetic,” Watling said.
The walls will be repainted blue and grey, the back section will be recarpeted, and the lighting, table tops and damaged chairs will be replaced.
No renovations will be made to the food service area yet but an additional dish return area will be added, which should improve flow, Watling said.
“Our budget for renovations this summer is enough to fix some of the immediate issues,” he said.
The Marketplace will undergo additional renovations in a few years, which will impact food service.
“The plan is that in a couple years we can do the whole thing and get it all done, but we’re gonna do a little bit of it now,” Watling said. “We’re hoping that we can do a larger renovation in the future.”
During the renovations, the full-time staff at the Marketplace will be spread out to the other dining locations on campus to handle the increased volume of customers.
“When everyone comes back in the fall, the hours will be back to normal,” Watling said. “Meal plans will be back to normal and the Marketplace will look better than it does now.”
