Gordon Renovation (2026)
March 2026 – August 2026
The Gordon Dining & Event Center will undergo a renovation aimed at modernizing outdated areas and improving overall dining flow and capacity. The project is expected to be completed before Fall 2026 move-in.
As part of the renovation, the dish room will receive major upgrades to improve efficiency, including a new customer dish return area.
Dining seating will expand from 300+ seats to more than 500, reducing the need to use upstairs event spaces for overflow seating. To make room for this expansion, the Southeast Café will be moved and incorporated into a remodeled Flamingo Run convenience store.
Several changes will also be made to the layout, entrances, and traffic flow. These include the addition of turnstiles separating the market from the North East stairwell—making that entrance primarily exit-only—and shifting the west entrance north to create a new doorway.
Impacts During Construction
Overall, University Housing will work closely with contractors to ensure that dining and events at Gordon remain a positive experience while minimizing disruptions as much as possible. Below are important points to note for anyone dining or attending events in Gordon during the Spring and Summer 2026 periods.
- Gordon will transition to paper dishes and disposables for the remainder of the spring semester and likely into the summer to accommodate construction in the main dish room.
- Reusable items such as silverware and cups will be gradually reintroduced as construction progresses and as the dish room regains capacity.
- As typical with renovation projects, we anticipate additional activity, noise, odors, dust, and vibration along with an increase in traffic during construction work hours.
- Construction will take place between 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. daily, but loud noise work will end by 3:00 p.m.
- Most noise will be contained inside the building. However, brief periods of concrete cutting for the new entry door may impact nearby areas.
- Gordon will be closed during the following periods:
- Spring Break
- After spring move-out until mid-June (final dates to be confirmed)
- The Southeast Café and Flamingo Run will be closed during the following periods:
- Summer 2026
- During closures and throughout the summer:
- Rheta’s Market will remain open as an alternative dining location and will serve as the primary Southeast dining location during the summer months.
- Flamingo Run in Rheta’s Market will be available as an alternative to the Southeast Café and Flamingo Run summer closures in Gordon.
- Limited, short-term downtime of one to two days for select stations in Gordon Avenue Market may occur.
- Temporary fencing will be placed around East Campus Mall to support construction activities.