Progress continues to be made with contractors on Eastern’s new food court, which is slated to be completed by spring semester 2002.

There has been a meeting with contractors and work is being conducted on the court, said Lou Hencken, vice president for student affairs.

“A number of items have been taken out,” he said. “I was in there the other day, and the asbestos, tables and chairs have been removed.”

Contracts are in the process of being finalized, said Carol Strode, interim director of facilities planning and management, in an e-mail.

“We are very early in this project,” said Steve Shrake, architect manager of design and construction for facilities and management, in an e-mail. “(We) are doing the preconstruction things that are required to insure that all legal obligations are adhered to.”

Strode said many things are progressing along simultaneously as the early stages of construction begin to get underway.

“Contracts are being finalized, construction staging areas are being established, insurance certificates and bonds are being reviewed and material deliveries are being assessed by the contractor,” she said.

She said these things are the main focus of the construction project right now.

Other concerns for contractors at this point are with the paperwork yet to be completed and the preparation of areas for construction work, she said.

“Materials (where Subway and Chick-fil-A were formerly located) belonging to Eastern have been removed, but the contractors are concentrating on the paperwork and preparing the staging areas for materials and checking on availability of materials and delivery dates,” Strode said.

The construction of the food court is going according to schedule, she said.

Hencken said with the general campus population not knowing what the inside of the building will look like, everyone has a unique picture right now as to what the finished product of the food court will look like after completion.