The Oakland Center will be undergoing major food renovations this summer. The $3.5 million project will include changes to the Pioneer Food Court, Bumpers and Café O’ Bears.

Since the Oakland Center food court was built in 1996, it hasn’t seen any major renovations to the food court area, even though enrollment has almost doubled. On the first day of the fall 2014 semester, more than 17,000 people visited the OC.

The recent extension to OU’s contract with Chartwells has allowed for the renovations to become reality. The changes to the food court will fix congestion issues, as well as introduce new food options.

The food court will now feature Panda Express, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Create and a full service Chick-Fil-A. Subway will now have two full service lines to lessen the time spent waiting in line.

The goal of the expansion is to improve the amount of time spent in line by adding cashiers to each food vendor. The director of the OC, Richard Fekel, thinks this will help immensely.

“If you’re just going to one station it should really improve the amount of time that you spend waiting in line,” Fekel said. “It will work a lot more seamlessly and a lot quicker for all of our students and staff who eat in the food court and end up in those long long lines.”

These construction changes will create a wider food court area, but will result in a loss of some seating. The area of tables located near Subway’s second service window will be eliminated.

Bumper’s will also be undergoing major renovations this summer. The room will now feature a grill area with some of the food options currently in the OC that will no longer be in the food court, such as pizza and burgers.

Student Congress’s student service director Kyler Johnson was involved in the reconstruction plan process to ensure students get the best experience on campus. He stressed that adding food downstairs would not eliminate such a popular gaming area for students.

“They will lose a little bit, but Bumper’s will still be a game room,” Johnson said. “It’s not just going to destroy the whole room.”

Fekel agrees.

“Theres no space like this on campus right now,” Fekel said. “The game room is so popular so our hope is that by bringing the food in there that students will really really enjoy it.”

The other plan for expansion will come to Café O’ Bears. It will feature food from Au Bon Pain, an establishment similar to Panera Bread. Plans for that area are not yet finalized, but the hopes are to reconstruct the area, giving the students and restaurant workers more space.

Fekel stated that all of these changes are being made to benefit the students. They are hoping to begin construction in May and have everything complete for the fall semester.