Marauder's Nest set to open by the end of the semester

TwelvEighty, the McMaster Students Union-owned restaurant located in the basement of the McMaster University Student Centre, is now in service for the school year. But the Marauder's Nest, the café that will sit where the lounge area in TwelvEighty used to be, remains under construction.

In a report that D’Souza wrote to the Student Representative Assembly on June 14, entitled “1280 Café Capital Allocation,” D’Souza anticipated the TwelvEighty café to have its “official launch” in Sept. 2017.

Then, in Aug. 2017, in a report to the Silhouette, D’Souza stated that this date has been pushed back to the end of October. However, after the MSU hired an architect and project manager to spearhead the development of the café in late Aug. 2017, the café’s official launch date was pushed back even further.

“After consultations with the project manager we decided to instead act as the general contractor for this project and directly hire external or internal sub- contractors to carry out separate parts of the project. This would save us a large amount of funds but would ultimately lengthen the construction timeline to end of Oct. (as previously communicated to the SRA at the last meeting) to limit liability,” Daniel Tuba D’Souza, vice president (Finance) of the MSU wrote in a report to the Student Representative Assembly on Aug. 30.

According to D’Souza, after hiring the architect and project manager, the MSU had to modify the timeline for the Marauder's Nest construction schedule.

“We worked closely with the Architect and Construction team to ensure that we were getting the most value from our budget, prioritizing getting it done well and using the allocated funding effectively over rushing the construction phase,” D’Souza said.

A few months after the originally proposed launch date, Marauder's Nest is set to be operational by the end of the semester.

The café is being established, in part, to increase food accessibility on campus. Marauder's Nest will offer students coffee, tea and lunch foods, including wraps, toasted paninis and bagel sandwiches, at prices that are more affordable than La Piazza, Starbucks and the TwelvEighty Bar & Grill, but less affordable than Union Market.

“This new café will be a unique and exciting space for students to hang out and study while indulging in the best-valued food and caffeinated beverages on campus. We worked with an incredibly talented Architect who has designed some of the most popular cafes and restaurants in Hamilton and are excited to unveil the space to students upon its completion,” D’Souza said.

“I am very excited about the enhanced capacity, service offerings and value that this new café and lounge space will provide to students.”

Admidst construction, the café will not open in the near future. Although students can look forward to Marauder's Nest affordability, should they wish to eat lunch in the MUSC, for a while, students will have to stick with their preferred but more expensive lunch spot.

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