Admins look to add eatery, bar to Central

Administrators are "aggressively" developing plans to construct a restaurant that will serve alcohol on Central Campus for students' use as soon as possible in the Fall, University officials confirmed Friday.

Steve Nowicki, vice provost and dean of undergraduate education, said he will begin negotiating contracts with potential vendors in the next several weeks. He declined to disclose the exact location of the restaurant.

Administrators have been interested in such a venue since they concluded that the construction of New Campus would have to be delayed because of the recession, Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta wrote in an e-mail. He added that the restaurant is being considered along with exercise facilities, enhanced recreational facilities, outdoor common spaces, barbecues and other improvements to create a better living experience for the next class of Central residents.

"Students have told us that among the elements that will make Central Campus more enjoyable as a residential neighborhood is the need for community building elements-places to hang out and places to enjoy food and beverage together," Moneta said. "We are committed to making the Central Campus experience far more desirable and are exploring a number of options."

Although the University will have to make cutbacks to cope with the financial crisis, Nowicki said administrators would be willing to use debt financing to construct the venue. He noted that the project has won the support of Executive Vice President Tallman Trask and Provost Peter Lange.

"Even though we are trying to make sure that we are fiscally responsible, as we move forward and we look to trim Duke's budget, this is not the place to do it," he said. "We really are tangibly working on Central and we know we are going to have to invest in Central, even in an economic downturn."

Senior Sarah Ramig, co-chair of the Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee, confirmed that administrators have sought the group's input on the project but declined to comment further.

Director of Dining Services Jim Wulforst could not be immediately reached for comment.