Southeast campus residents are slated to welcome a new variety of food options to their palettes next year as university officials revealed further plans for the redesign of Gordon Commons Tuesday.

With fireplaces on the upper and lower levels as well as balcony-like seating, the new $41.3 million Gordon Commons facility will have a much more contemporary feel, University Housing spokesperson Brendon Dybdahl said.

“The new dining hall will be a much more inviting space and obviously much more modern,” Dybdahl said. “It will have a much warmer feel to it.”

Dybdahl said the new facility will involve a marketplace concept, with 13 different food stations, including a coffee shop, to choose from. He said this will give students a much wider variety of food to choose from, better fitting their needs as they are squeezing in a meal before class or grabbing food to go.

Because of these various needs, Dybdahl said the university has created different places to sit and eat, as opposed to the current Gordon Commons, which is comprised of one large dining area.

“[There will be] some sit-down areas, [and] some other areas that are going to have more high tables and stools for when you’re on the go or you’re on your way to class,” he said. “It’ll have a variety of different seating options.”

He added some of these options will include balcony seating on the upper level of the new Gordon Commons that will look out onto the soon-to-come green space replacing the location of the current Gordon Commons.

The tearing down of the old Gordon Commons and replacing the 55,000 square foot area with green space and outdoor seating is expected to be completed by the end of fall 2013, Dybdahl said. The area will be an extension of East Campus Mall.

“It will be kind of like a terrace where students can sit and eat,” he said. “Students can use it for recreation or just hanging out or whatever they would like to do.”

As far as the financial aspects go, Director of Dining and Culinary Services Barbara Phelan said building an entirely new facility was more cost effective than renovating the old one.

She said a significant amount of preliminary planning was put into the project.

“We did quite a bit of research for quite a long time, and building the new building was the right choice to me,” Phelan said.

A team of directors and managers has helped make the new Gordon Commons possible, eventually paying off acquired debt through resident fees and basic revenue, Phelan added. She also said there is a master plan that involves paying off the debt over a period of time.

Looking to the future, Phelan said officials are projected to have the keys to the new facility by the end of May. Through June and July, staff training will take place, allowing them to learn how to use all of the new equipment. In early August, the last conference group of the summer will serve as Gordon Commons’ “test run” before students start piling in after move-in day of 2012, she said.

“We’ll have some pretty exciting food and we’re really excited for it to open. I would encourage people to visit us in the fall,” Phelan said.