Transylvania University has expanded its Rafskeller Grill area to accommodate campus dining needs during the construction of a new, $29.6 million Campus Center.
The renovated dining space, which opened this week as students returned for the beginning of winter term, provides more seating than the previous facility in Forrer Hall. The 60-year-old residence hall will make way for the new Campus Center.
When this new building opens in the fall of 2020, it will include Transy’s main dining facility—the Great Hall—which will seat up to 450 and remain open 24/7 as a place for students to gather. It also will feature a cafe and outdoor terrace seating.
Until then, the campus community will use the expanded Rafskeller area. (The name is a nod to an eccentric professor, Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, and a play on a German word for a type of basement eatery: Ratskeller.) Seating in this space, located in the Mitchell Fine Arts Center, includes rooms with themes that students chose—including Lexington Culture, Fourth Street Stuff and the Rafeteria.
To further accommodate the change in campus dining, Jazzman’s Cafe will add more grab-and-go options; two pop-up restaurants will be set up each week at various locations around campus; and, for dining outside on nice days, outdoor seating will remain in Alumni Plaza over winter.