Students studying in the library are going to have to wait a few days longer to be able to get that late-night cup of joe.
The opening of the new Perk, located in the von der Heyden Pavilion, has been further delayed until next week. The new Perk, which was originally scheduled to open Oct. 12, was supposed to start serving today because of a delay.
That date has now been changed to Nov. 7.
"There have been a number of minor construction delays," Director of Perkins Library Administrative Services Ann Elsner wrote in an e-mail.
She added that the delays were related to electrical wiring work and cabinetry.
Perkins Renovation Project Manager Ashley Jackson reported that Mad Hatter's Cafe and Bake Shop will occupy the space as soon as construction work has completed and passes a final inspection conducted by the city of Durham.
Jackson said the design for the cafe was not finalized until late in the complex construction process of the library addition, causing the major delay.
"The design wasn't formalized until we had a clear idea of what kind of function we were going to have in there," Jackson explained. "We didn't know how extensive it was going to be."
He said the original idea was for the cafe to be a simple coffee bar, but the design grew over time.
The new Perk will offer coffee, pastries and some lunch options as well.
The cafe will operate according to demand.
The cafe will be closed Saturday but will be open from 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. Sunday.
The old Perk was rated in the bottom three choices of the People's Choice portion of the Performance Assessment for Culinary Excellence rankings conducted by Duke Dining Services last year.
The library administration has chosen a new vendor for the space in hopes of improving the eatery's performance.
"The old Perk was originally built as a temporary space and had always been inadequate," said Jackson. "This is built as a permanent space."
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