A construction worker attempts to cut
pipe amid cold temperatures and snow.
LEXY BURTON/THE DEPAUW
In addition to keeping students indoors, the recent cold weather has kept the construction of Hoover Dining Hall from moving along.
When in the designing phase, Hoover Hall was set to be completed by Fall of 2016. After undergoing a redesign, the project’s completion date was moved back to Christmas of 2016, according to Associate Vice President for Facilities Management Dick Vance.
“From a design and planning perspective, we lost about four months right around Thanksgiving and Christmas a year ago trying to make sure that the project was the most appropriate project for DePauw University, and so we did a little bit of a redesign,” Vance said.
Recent inclement weather brought construction to a halt, creating another two-week delay. Vance, however, is confident that the construction team will make up that time and then some during the rest of the construction process. He said weather setbacks are built into the time projection, and he believes the Christmas 2016 goal will be met with ease.
“Losing two weeks in construction based on bad weather, those are things that I take in stride. It’s normal and customary for a project that’s this significant,” he said.
And a significant project it is, costing nearly 25 million dollars for construction alone, not including any furniture, fixtures or equipment for the building, according to Vice President for Finance and Administration Brad Kelsheimer.
Kelsheimer believes the cost will be well worth it. With the ability to seat 600 people between the main dining area and the mezzanine, traffic during main dining hours will be smoother.
General Manager of Bon Appétit Jason Rose thinks moving to Hoover Hall will bring positive changes to the Bon Appétit food service.
“The design has the opportunity for additional points of food service and the ability to cook exhibition style,” he said. “Each food station will have its own cold storage, prep space, cooking equipment and identity.”
The building is designed to match the style of East College. As of now, the current Hub hours are expected to stay the same, as well as the all-you-care-to-eat meal style. An express area will be available as well.
4 additional dining rooms will be available for group meetings or other events that will require the use of a reservation. Kelsheimer hopes students will be able to use the new dining hall as a lounging area as well.
“The process so far has been an incredibly detailed, thorough process. In my 25-year career it’s the most thorough design and construction process I’ve ever seen and I’ve ever been through,” he said. “The dining hall itself will be conducive to not just great functionality for Bon Appétit to run dining services but it’s going to feel like a place where you want to go and spend time.”
Part of what makes the design so intricate, Kelsheimer said, is that, in addition to building Hoover Dining Hall, the current kitchen and dining space in the Union Building will be torn down and replaced with a “plaza.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF RAMSA
This space, which will provide a clear view from the Green Center for the Performing Arts to East College, will open up campus and recreate part of the grassy space that Hoover Hall will come to occupy, Kelsheimer said.
He said it will act as a rallying point for students, a study space on nice days and a pathway for students living on the northeast side of campus to cross over to Julian, Peeler and Lilly Centers.
This process cannot begin, however, until Hoover Hall is up and running, since students need a space to eat. The plaza construction process will take about nine months, running into the summer of 2017, with hopeful completion by the time students return to campus in September of 2017.
The current Union Building will undergo changes as well during this time. It will become more formalized, with rooms dedicated for interviews and private study spaces. Vance said the University hopes to make it less of a social environment and more of a serious, studious space.
Kelsheimer is certain that Hoover Dining Hall will be well worth the wait.
“I think we’re building culture, we’re building an experience,” he said. “It’s just a place where people are going to be together, and this is an expensive building and one of the reasons it’s expensive is it’s designed as a cultural driver as much as, or more, probably, as a place to eat… We’re going to build an awesome building and we're going to build an awesome culture.”