VA Tech Plans New Commuter-Focused Dining Venue

Virginia Tech has broken ground on a major new dining center, Turner Place, located on the Blacksburg campus' academic side. Scheduled for completion in the fall of 2012, it will incorporate eight concepts on two levels with an emphasis on the specific needs of staff and commuter students for quick breakfast and lunch options.

The planned venue will feature national brand franchises Jamba Juice, Qdoba and Bruegger’s Bagels alongside original concepts
created by VT Dining Services. Among them...

• an Italian-inspired pizza and pasta restaurant;

• an upscale chophouse with a wood-burning grill;

• a Japanese-style steakhouse with several teppanyaki grills;

• a large grab-and-go venue offering prepackaged sandwiches and salads;

• an espresso bar;

• a gelato bar; and

• a crêpe station.
Architect's renderings and details about the new dining center can be found on the Turner Place website.

Turner Place will seat approximately 700, including a large separate dining room for the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets, who will use the dining room to support leadership training programs during meals once their primary dining facility in Shultz Hall is closed to make way for the university’s new Center for the Arts.

“Our campus has grown accustomed to extraordinary dining, and this new venture will certainly add to this tradition of excellence,” says Frank Shushok, associate vice president for Student Affairs. “In addition to great food, Turner Place will bring together faculty, staff, and students around the dining table, strengthening our community of friendship and learning and energizing campus life in the academic corridor.”