Georgetown is finalizing plans with a local restaurant owner to open a new dining establishment in the space vacated by the Darnall cafeteria in 2005, which university official Margie Bryant hopes will open sometime in the fall semester.

Bryant, associate vice president of Auxiliary Services, said that that university signed a memorandum of agreement April 4 with the restaurateur C.W. Chon, who operates Epicurean & Co., and is awaiting the finalization of building plans before signing a lease.

Under the terms of the agreement Epicurean & Co. would be granted use of the space for ten years. Chon said that he plans to use the space as a cafeteria, sit-down restaurant and cocktail lounge.

Provided that the building plans are completed within the next few weeks, Bryant said the space should open during the fall semester.

The university is discussing making meal plans transferable to the new dining facility with Marriott, the corporation that currently holds the school’s dining services contract for O’Donovan Hall.

“I am feeling confident that we can try to establish something there,” Bryant said.

Eamonn Carr (COL ’06), who has served as a student representative in the negotiations, said that the university is still negotiating with Chon on specifics regarding the use of the meal plan, but was confident that an agreement would be reached.

“The ultimate goal still stands for it to be on the meal plan,” he said.

The lack of variety on the meal plan has been a common complaint among students.

“It will be nice to have another restaurant on the meal plan because it opens up more options for students,” Nathan Fabian (SFS ’08) said.

Carr said that the university is still working on specific details of negotiations with Chon, including the interior design, hours of operation and possible exterior seating.

Chon has declined to comment on developments in his plan for the space until the lease has been finalized.

O’Donovan Hall is currently the only venue that accepts the student meal plan.

Chon wishes to serve alcoholic beverages at the cocktail lounge, but this requires obtaining a liquor license, an initiative which may meet resistance from the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission.

“There is now strong support for an alcohol license on campus,” Carr said.

Darnall Cafeteria has lain vacant as of last school year when the university decided to close it to bring greater efficiency to the university’s dining services. The initiative to fill the vacated cafeteria began last summer when the university solicited both national and local brands about filling the space.

Bryant said that fast-food vendors such as Wendy’s and Panda Express were considered for the space, but could not fill the area on their own. Another interested party, T.G.I Friday’s, also failed to win the university’s approval due to disagreement over their request for a red and white awning to run the length of Darnall’s western wall, among other problems

Bryant said she believed that the presence of Epicurean & Co. on campus would not only enhance the variety and accessibility of student dining options, but also generally improve other dining venues through competition.

“I think it raises the bar,” she said.

In order to better accommodate Chon’s plans for a restaurant and cocktail lounge, the university is planning to reorient the GoCard Office from the building’s southern entrance to beside the Student Health Center on the building’s western side.

Such a move would slightly reduce Epicurean’s available space to just under 15,000 square feet, but provide the restaurant with two entrances and the potential for outdoor seating in the Darnall patio area, Bryant said.