The rumble of construction on Hampton University's Queen Street is the sound of the new $25 million, 100,000 square-foot cafeteria going up.
Crews broke ground for the new waterfront dining facility in September 2010 and expect to complete it by June 2012.
Architectural renderings show a two-story dining facility with brick and curved glass in the front and an all-glass back facing the Hampton River on Queen Street.
The look is similar to the HU Proton Therapy Institute on Enterprise Parkway that opened last summer, although different architects were used.
The new state-of-the-art dining hall will seat about 1,000 people and include a cereal and fruit bar, a salad bar, a grill station offering burgers and steaks, wraps and pizzas.
The new cafeteria will replace the "big caf" and "small caf" eateries inside Virginia-Cleveland Hall, which was built in 1874 and has already been designated a National Historic Landmark.
