The dining hall that the University planned to open in District House at the start of the upcoming academic year will not open on time, officials announced in a release Friday.
The space was set to open as one of three new all-you-can-eat dining halls on the Foggy Bottom campus this fall in Thurston and Shenkman hall and District House as part of the University’s transition to a new unlimited dining plan. But officials are no longer on track to open the space at the start of the fall semester, as planned.
“The District House experience will be introduced later in the 2022-2023 academic year,” the release states.
The release also included renderings of the dining hall set to open in Shenkman Hall, which include an Asian cuisine station and pasta station.
[gwh_image id=”1162299″ credit=”Courtesy of GW Today” size=”post-thumbnail” align=”center” /]
The D.C. Zoning Commission will hold a hearing later this month to determine whether to allow the University to restrict the public’s access from District House with a zoning reclassification from public retail to a private student dining status, according to posters on the entrances to the building’s food court.
District House’s basement currently houses vendors Chick-fil-a, GRK Fresh Greek, Sol Mexican Grill, Kin’s Sushi and Wiseguy Pizza.
GRK Fresh Greek, Sol Mexican Grill and Wiseguy Pizza will permanently leave campus when the space will close at the end of the spring semester. Chick-fil-a and Kin’s Sushi will relocate to the University Student Center and Shenkman Hall, respectively.
GW will require freshmen and sophomores to purchase one of three meal plans starting at $2,700, which includes unlimited dining hall swipes and varying GWorld balances, while incoming juniors and seniors have the option to continue with the traditional meal plan completely composed of a declining GWorld balance.
Officials closed Shenkman Hall’s basement – which previously housed vendors Teashi, Dunkin’, Baskin Robbins, Gallery Gourmet Market & Dry Cleaners and Gallery Salad Bar & Grill – last month, according to an email sent to Shenkman residents. 10 days later, Potbelly closed its Shenkman Hall sandwich shop after 15 years of operation.
Officials hired Douglas Frazier to serve as the University’s new executive director of dining, according to the release. Frazier worked at food services company Sodexo for more than six years before he started working at GW in February, according to his LinkedIn profile.
“I think it’s really exciting,” Frazier said in the release. “I think students are going to be very, very pleased once we’re up and running, and they understand the program and understand the different options that they have.”
