Food court opens to huge crowd New UMaine eatery can cater to 550 diners

ORONO – Maine Marketplace, the new food court and dining area in the University of Maine’s Memorial Union building, opened with flair Monday, offering everyone free food and beverages as long as the fare lasted.

The food lasted until 2 p.m. when Jon Lewis, executive director of auxiliary services, somewhat apologetically told scores of people heading for the new eatery that food servers inside had run out of everything, and that they had to regroup and break out more supplies. “We’ll open again at 4 p.m. Also, everything’s 25 percent off tomorrow,” Lewis said as the disappointed crowd walked off.

The food court apparently will be one of the more popular attractions in the $12.5 million addition to the University of Maine Memorial Union. Offering fare from baked goods to pizza and vegetarian meals, the eatery can seat as many as 550 people and represents a blending of services once offered at the campus Bear’s Den, Damn Yankee cafeteria and the Ford Dining area.

It is the second major piece of construction to be completed in a project to revamp the building known as a gathering place for various groups on campus. Construction began in the spring of 2000 and originally was scheduled to be completed in time for the start of the current school year. Delays in construction pushed back the schedule for parts of the project.

The expanded campus bookstore opened at the start of the semester. It is located in the addition’s first floor.

More work is planned, including a foyer and revamped meeting rooms in the union’s older section.

The old bookstore, in the rear of the complex, soon will house the campus radio station, campus newspaper, student government and graduate student government offices, and cubicles for more than 60 student-run organizations, according to Dwight Rideout, dean of students.

A third floor will be added to the older section of the union building to house administrative offices.

But it was the food court that drew a crowd of hungry admirers Monday. With its modern, open look and mezzanine that looks over an open area below with ficus trees and plants, the Maine Marketplace would fit into the most “ivy” of Ivy League colleges, some students said.

“There’s nothing about this that says ‘Maine hick,’ and I’m glad,” said Ann-Marie Whitehouse, 19, a sophomore from South Berwick. Whitehouse said the food court “looks like the one at George Washington University where my sister goes.”

Sam Krajewski, 23, a UM senior, offered a more sardonic view of the addition. “It seems disjointed,” said Krajewski, adding that people rarely see a student union with an addition hitched onto an older building. Looking out across the spacious mezzanine one story below, Krajewski smiled a bit before offering his next comment.

“Anyone streaking through there could get maximum exposure,” he joked to the guffaws of his two buddies.