Construction for a new dining area on the second floor of the Union East Building will start April 25. The venue is scheduled to open Aug. 1.

The World Of Wings will close the day before construction starts, but there is no date for its re-opening or a new location yet.

Victor Pacheco, vice president for business affairs, said the food court and the El Paso Natural Gas Conference Center are being considered, but that World of Wings  will not open before the new dining hall.

As a restaurant concept, the dining hall will not include brands. Instead, it will offer a variety of selections in one buffet-type area. Though the menus will change daily, the restaurant will include a Mongolian grill, a deli station, American and Italian comfort food and a salad bar, among other options.

“We conducted some focus groups about a year ago and we had several students comment that they wanted an all-you-care-to-eat cafeteria-style menu,” Pacheco said. “These are very popular at other universities, and they cater a lot to residential students who live on campus. So it’s real convenient to come eat at a venue like this.”

Although the main purpose of the unnamed venue is to cater to students with a meal plan, it will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner on weekdays, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. throughout the semester. Shorter weekend hours will offer brunch and dinner menus.

Aymee Dominguez, sophomore health promotions major, said she was glad there would be more variety, especially since she currently does not have a lot of options as a vegetarian.

“I would like to have a vegetarian restaurant,” Dominguez said. “We have Quiznos and another one, but it’s not that good. I’d like veggie burgers or something like that. They just give us salads.”

Alhough a vegetarian-specific station is not planned, Ofelia Dominguez, director of Union Services, said the new venue will give students with vegetarian and gluten restrictions more selections.

The expenses for construction of the site will be covered by the food service management company, Sodhexo, who will also be taking charge of the operation of the buffet.

Although construction will not begin for some months, the pool tables that were previously located in the area of the planned renovation were removed. Dominguez said the tables will not be relocated after construction is over.

“We totally did away with them because, for one thing, they were hardly being used and that was taking up a lot of space,” Dominguez said.

This will be the third renovation to this dining area in the past four years, but the first change to the back area since the WOW was put in nine years ago.

“We did some renovations a few years back, and that was to update that whole front area that’s facing into the center lounge,” Dominguez said. “We had not touched that front area in a long time. The back area was not touched at all.”

Stephanie Frescas may reached at [email protected].