Some hospitality with a bit of hammer and nails

Stephan Useche / Staff Writer

The roar of chainsaws and the pounding of hammers are two of many noises students may hear when they approach the Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management building.

According to Mohammad Qureshi, assistant dean of CSHTM, there are three different projects in progress at the building. Qureshi is in charge of overseeing the constructions and to make sure there is a clean and safe environment for the students.

The main construction project is for the teaching restaurant. “The restaurant is going to have a brand new kitchen, a dining room, a wine tower and a teaching bar,” said Qureshi. “It is going to be beautiful.”

The restaurant project is being funded by the , which has worked with the CSHTM for the past 11 years. The festival has raised more than $17 million for the school, which has subsequently funded three different divisions: capital (construction), operational (lab supplies), and scholarships to students.

Fundraising for the project began in 2008 and in 2011, they broke ground. According to Qureshi, the $7 million teaching restaurant project will be finished in February 2013.

Hospitality Management senator, Xue Yan, thinks the restaurant will be a great tool for students to experience the real operation of a restaurant.

“This new restaurant brings a lot of study opportunities,” said Yan.

The teaching restaurant project isn’t the only construction the building is going through. The reconstruction of the bathrooms is also taking place because they didn’t meet with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which “prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by public accommodations and requires places of public accommodation and commercial facilities to be designed, constructed, and altered in compliance with the accessibility standards established by this part.”

“It is important that the bathrooms are ADA compliant,” said Qureshi.

Funded by the University, the project has been divided in different parts in order to let the students use the bathrooms. The bathrooms will be ready and open August 20.

In keeping with accessibility, the third project, which will start and end in October, is the replacement of the elevators. Qureshi said that they made sure the disabled students have all their classes on the first floor since no one will be able to use the elevators during that time. The other students will have to take the stairs, but only until the project is complete.