After nixing plans to revamp the first-year dining mecca on Observatory Hill, officials instead may tear it down and put up a brand new dining hall in its place.
Originally, O-Hill was slated for a major renovation, but when construction bids came in at about $3 million over the budget, the Board of Visitors decided this summer to scrap the plan.
At its October meeting, the Board will look at plans to level the facility, including the Tree House snack bar, to build a bigger, better dining hall on the same site. Officials said this not only will accommodate the University's growing number of students, but it actually may be more cost effective.
Officials tout the proposal for a brand new building as a vast improvement over the original renovation plans.
"There were limitations to renovating the O-Hill facility," Dining Services Director Ed Gutauskas said. "We felt we were settling for some things. They weren't ideal."
If the Board goes through with the plan, construction might not begin until spring 2002, Capital Programs Division Manager Elizabeth Lawson said.
During construction, students in the Alderman Road area would have the option of eating at large trailers set up as temporary dining facilities on the corner of McCormick and Alderman Roads - the same alternative officials originally cooked up to cope with students displaced by the now-abandoned renovation. The plan also would hearken back to the days when Newcomb Hall was being renovated and students used similar trailers in Nameless Field, Executive Vice President Leonard W. Sandridge said.
Student reaction to the new plan is mixed.
"I have had absolutely no trouble getting food at O-Hill in time," first-year College student Matthew Eagen said. "Personally, I see no need for renovation."
But maybe there are some other things the University needs to finish before building a new O-Hill, first-year Engineering student Marshall Culbert said.
"I think they should finish my dorm first, and then work on the food," said Culbert, a future Woody House resident. Culbert currently lives in a Webb triple. "Hey, at least they got the stadium finished on time"
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