The demolition of VG Cafe, a dining option for both students and staff located between the residence halls, began on Aug. 15 and is expected to be complete by Sept. 30.
According to Facilities Planning & Capital Projects Project Manager Curtis McNally, all of the surrounding streets and sidewalks will be accessible except for the sidewalk on Grand Ave. and Deer Ave., which are currently in the renovation site.
See a live stream of the renovation site below.
Video by Cal Poly:San Luis Obispo
The renovations for the new three-story VG Cafe will be completed in Fall 2018, according to Cal Poly Corporation Director of Marketing and Communication Ellen Curtis.
VG Cafe will remain in the same location, however, it will offer twice the space after renovations. At 35,000 sq. ft., the new three-story facility will be include an open floor plan with both indoor and outdoor seating and lounge options.
There will also be six different micro-restaurants, each with its own unique cuisine.
“The old VG’s was old and kind of dirty,” McNally said. “The new one will have a light, fun environment with music streaming similar to the UU, bright colors and a new clean design.”
Breakdown of the new VG Cafe
The first floor will offer a market similar to Campus Market, which allows for students to grab a quick snack or lunch on the go. In addition, there will be a juice bar and sandwich station.
The second floor will be comprised of the restaurant with six different food options. Depending on the day, each station will rotate its food options within its specified theme.
- Breakfast Brunch station: This will include food such as eggs, pancakes, waffles and bacon.
- Noodle Bar: It will offer either Asian- or Italian-type noodles.
- Allergy-Free station: This venue will provide food options for students who have nut allergies, are gluten-free or eat kosher only.
- Streats: Any type of street food including, but not limited to, tacos and sandwiches.
- Hearth: This station includes two giant pizza ovens where students will have the chance to build their own pizzas.
- Dessert station
All stations are shown below, except the Allergy-Free station.
There will be approximately 250 indoor seats and 250 outdoor seats on a large patio that wraps around on three sides. There will also be game tables and outdoor fire pits.
The third floor will include administrative offices for faculty and staff.
Changes to The Avenue, UU and food trucks
Construction will be taking place during school hours, but controls have already been put in place for noise control. If it becomes a problem, Cal Poly Facilities will build a sound barrier, McNally said. Nevertheless, they will monitor and limit noise disturbances throughout the construction process. Additionally, they are pursuing Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) gold-level green building certification with an 11 percent greater energy savings than required by Title 24.
While VG Cafe is undergoing construction, the new late-night dining option will be The Avenue, which has also been undergoing changes over the summer. Once the renovations are complete, The Avenue will have a redesigned floor plan with new dining options including Bishop’s Burgers, a California-style burger venue, a Cal-Mex venue called Picos and Zen Bowl, an Asian fusion bowl venue.
In the University Union, Ciao! will now be called Mustang Station. The restaurant will still serve pizza but with the addition of appetizers and beer and wine for customers 21 and older.
Campus Dining is also adding two food trucks: the Central Coaster, which will be serving meals, and a Starbucks truck. The locations can be tracked via the Campus Dining Twitter handle and the hashtag #CentralCoaster and #starbucks, respectively.
Correction: A previous version of this article stated Picos was a California-style burger venue. It has been changed to say it is a Cal-Mex venue.