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Aramark, which operates most Marvin Center dining services and recently signed a 10-year contract extension with GW, is getting rid of most venues on the Marvin Center's ground level and first floor.
The only venues surviving the renovations will be Starbucks, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Subway and Jamba Juice, which will all be located on a completely reconfigured first floor.
Along with these familiar venues, Aramark is installing a Wendy's and three other establishments. The new venues are Baja Sol, a Mexican eatery; the Tuscan Oven, which specializes in brick oven pizza; and Miso, an Asian venue that will have vegetarian meals as well as sushi.
Occupying the majority of the ground floor will be The District Market, which Amelia Powell, Aramark's marketing program manager, called "GW's community grocery store."
Aramark, which is paying for the renovations, is also redesigning the J Street seating areas and installing a small-scale Washington Monument with plasma television screens that will stretch from the ground level up through the first floor.
Burger King, Chik-Fil-A, Taco Bell and several other venues will not return to J Street. Some establishments that will remain, such as Starbucks, are undergoing renovations. The popular coffee shop will feature extra seating, including tables and umbrellas on the currently vacant patio outside the Marvin Center's H Street entrance.
The renovations will cost Aramark about $4.5 million, said Robert Chernak, senior vice president of Student and Academic Support Services. Aramark officials declined to comment on the exact cost.
Powell said the new venues were chosen based on surveys from more than 4,000 students, faculty and staff. In addition, Aramark conducted several focus groups to better determine the tastes of the GW community.
On a recent tour of the gutted dining area, J Street was unrecognizable except for the solitary Starbucks sign hanging where the coffee venue
