Project Timeline
Construction is slated to begin Winter of 2023, after the Fall semester has concluded. The Eatery’s back-of-house kitchen will be renovated over the summer, ready to begin service for the 2024-2025 academic year.
From Winter 2023 until the project’s completion, The Eatery will operate in phases, with stations closing down and new ones replacing them. Each station that closes down will be accommodated with additional outfitted stations in The Eatery and other spaces on campus, ensuring that the value of the dining program remains consistent.
Real-time updates for construction and phasing will be available on the Updates section of this webpage.
Phase 1
Winter 2023: December 20 - April 1
During the first phase of the TDR renovation work that begins in December and will carry through the spring semester, we will close part of the rear seating areas behind the rotisserie station to work on constructing a new kitchen space that will enable us to meet our community members needs and improve the visibility of our kitchen areas. During this phase of work, we expect seating availability to be reduced from 600 to about 500. Our spring operations plan includes noise and air quality measures to ensure a continued positive student dining experience. We will also offer pop-up events like food trucks and special brunches at locations across campus during peak brunch and dinner times. These events will be available as meal swipes or dining dollars to our meal plan holders. We will also add more dining dollars to all eligible meal plans to accommodate greater retail venue flexibility.
Phase 2
Spring 2024
Due to the significant scope of the renovation work, TDR will be completely closed throughout the second phase of work, which will begin in early to mid-April 2024 and is expected to end in time for the fall 2024 semester. During Phase 2, we are considering several locations and will post the full plan and locations here in early January 2024. In addition to offering pop-up events and more dining dollars to meal plan holders accounts, we will set up dining hall service in temperature controlled tents on campus. Service hours in the tent will be the same as our current TDR dining schedule and will feature most menu items. We will continue to work with our students who have special dietary needs (i.e., allergens, religious, etc.) to offer meals to go, as needed. Continue to check this site for additional information about the TDR renovation project, including renderings, and our spring semester plans. This site will be updated throughout the spring with construction progress, event dates and times, and other important information.
Project Safety
We have planned the work in MGC and TDR to minimize the impact on our community members, while also allowing for the time necessary to make the improvements. In addition to the planned demolition work for the renovation projects, certain asbestos-containing building components, such as pipe insulation, will be removed. This abatement work is expected to take place between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. from December 20, 2023 through January 20, 2024. All abatement work will occur within contained and controlled areas with all appropriate safety measures in place. Abatement and project monitoring work will be performed by Northstar, a highly qualified firm licensed to perform asbestos abatement in compliance with District of Columbia and Federal regulations.
We invite the AU community to contact us at mealplans@american.edu with questions or comments about the TDR renovation work and at vpfin@american.edu with questions or comments about the MGC third floor renovation work.