By ALEXANDRA SMITH
Staff Writer
According to President James Mellichamp, The Grill on Georgia Street will relocate to the Johnny Mize Athletic Center concession stand when construction begins on the new student center.
Initially, The Grill was scheduled to be relocated and then knocked down next week, during spring break.
However, students haven’t seen any activity towards knocking the Grill down, and have been wondering no progress has been made on the construction yet.
Right now, Mellichamp said, the college has architects drawing the plans for the building. After these drawings are complete, the project will open up for bids where a team will be selected to work on the project.
The bids are scheduled to open up after spring break. Once the team is assembled, demolition of the Grill will begin.
Mellichamp projects that the demolition will occur some time in April.
“The drawings that are occurring now are the detailed plans that take a lot of time to draw up,” said Mellichamp. “We are excited for what the Student Center will bring to the campus, and we can’t wait to start construction.”
The original plan was for the Grill to be completely taken away and the dining hall to be open extra hours.
Once this plan was reviewed, the Board of Trustees felt that it would be better to find a temporary place for the Grill for students to continue to enjoy.
The Grill will be moved inside the Johnny Mize Athletic Center for the eighteen months that the new student center is under construction.
The Grill will maintain the ir current hours for students’ convenience. The move will also keep the Grill at a central location to the dorms.
“After weighing the options, the Board felt that this option was the best for students and the Grill,” said Mellichamp.
Leilani Healy, a freshman business major, said, “I think it will be weird for the Grill to be in the Mize Center. The Grill has a great atmosphere that might be lost when it is moved. I like all the TV’s and space that the Grill has now.”
Freshman music major Frazier Smith said, “If the hours will stay the same, I think it’ll be a great idea. It could be better if more tables and some TV’s were brought in as well.”
President Mellichamp also stated that the architects are also in the process of drawing up plans to add a third story to Purcell over the summer. The goal is for Purcell to house all freshman men and women by the fall of 2014.