The Residence Dining Center is undergoing construction this year, expanding to meet the current needs of students on a meal plan and who use the dining center.

Two-hundred additional seats will be added to North Dakota State’s weekend dining center, along with new public restrooms,  a new employee restroom and locker room, administration rooms and training rooms. NDSU said in the spring of 2016 that the expansion will also feature a meeting room for large groups requesting to dine together.

The expansion is projected to be finished by May 2017 and “is on schedule with a lot of work finished already,” Darren Peterson, director of dining services, said.

The footings of the expansion  along with required steel have been placed. This process is the longest, meaning the remaining construction will proceed faster.

Peterson said that crews are working to close off the expansion by the start of winter so that construction can continue inside the walls.

The total budget for the project is $3 million and is funded through student meal plans, Peterson said.

Future renovations could include renovations to the kitchen area and food stations, similar to the pizza station at the West Dining Center.