USC Opens Temporary Dining Facility

The University of Southern California (USC) is opening a temporary new 20,000-square-foot facility called the Lot Marketplace that is designed to meet campus dining needs until the completion of the Ronald Tutor Campus Center in 2010.

Encompassing a eight concept stations plus the Trojan Market farmers market that will operate every Thursday afternoon, the Lot (built on a former parking lot) boasts a distinctive 39-foot tall dome shape that has seating for around 350 indoors and another 140 on outdoor patios that wrap around the outside of the facility. It will have six 50-inch flat panel screen TVs to allow diners to catch the news or the latest USC sporting event, and complimentary wireless internet access throughout the pavilion and its patios.

Station concepts at the Lot include Wolfgang Puck Express, Baja Fresh, Submarina, ZAO Noodle Bar, Carl’s Jr., Red Mango, and a Starbucks licensee. The Traditions pub, a venerable campus institution formerly located in the now-closed Commons, has been temporarily relocated at The Lot. It will eventually move to the Tutor Center as its permanent home.