By: Samantha Wood;
Mosaic Staff Writer
The scaffolding and construction equipment parked outside of Miley Hall say it all… renovation of the cafeteria has begun, but students won’t be able to enjoy it until August 2013.
According to the website devoted to the project, the groundbreaking took place Monday, Nov. 12. Student activity and use of the cafeteria, the bookstore, Miley Mart, and Original Burger will not be affected until May 2013 Commencement weekend.
Salve Regina sophomore Lila Macari, who lived in Miley Hall last year, says that she thinks it’s a positive decision for the university. “Well it kind of sucks because it’s after we already moved out, but it’s good because that’s the main building that people see when they’re here other than Ochre [Court], especially for the freshmen,” said Macari.
The plans for the renovation include the addition of 180 seats, an expansion of about 50 percent. The website for the project states, “The existing seating and food lines will be replaced by a modern marketplace concept consisting of seven interactive dining stations disbursed around the cafeteria.”
Another addition will be on the garden level, with a student lounge, coffee outlet, and mini-mart. But the renovation will also be closing Original Burger, as one of the stations in the cafeteria will feature grill options. The space downstairs will be replaced with offices for Campus Life. The website features complete floor plans available for anyone to view.
Macari said that the changes to the cafeteria will not encourage her to eat at Miley Hall more because there would be a lot of people there, even with the additional seating. Sophomore Natalie Scuzzarella disagrees, saying that she will eat there more because there will be more food options.
“I think it’s just a better feel for the cafeteria,” says Scuzzarella, “I feel like at other schools their cafeterias are much bigger and then people come here and it’s a tiny little one.” The other schools that Scuzzarella compares to are Quinnipiac, University of New Hampshire, Bryant University, and University of Massachusetts Amherst “and they are like nothing compared to what we have.”
As for the closing of Original Burger, Macari said that she eats there occasionally, “but every time I go in there it’s all sports people, so I don’t think it’ll be that much of a problem.”
With the expansion of Miley Hall cafeteria, there are going to be more seats and a completely different layout to the food options. Some people are bound to love it, and others to hate it. We’ll just have to wait and see how it turns out. The complete project description and floor plans can be found here
