Lost River Pizza, Spencer’s, Moe’s to be a part of the restaurants in The Commons at Helm Library

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Commons at Western Kentucky University is almost done and Tuesday, the school administration opened the doors for us to take a peak inside at how it’s coming along.

Tuesday on the hill, President Timothy Caboni announced the restaurants that would be included in the food court inside of the building formerly called Helm Library.

Some local businesses are included in the mix such as Spencer’s and Lost River Pizza.

The dining area will also feature a rotating restaurant area where different restaurants and food trucks can come and have a pop-up dining experience for a few months at a time, according to Robert Huffman, the resident district manager for the WKU restaurant group.

“If you look at these restaurants that we are bringing, they are a little bit different than what we are doing everywhere else. So, we are bringing new and innovative ideas to campus so as the students come on, they have all kinds of options not only here but down they hill and then also at DSU,” said Huffman.

Caboni says the building displays several features from the basketball arena where the Hilltoppers used to play.

“The renovation exposes the 1931 superstructure that some folks will remember from its early days as a gymnasium. Most importantly, in part of our unique heritage at WKU, we are going to preserve the center court jump circle like we did in Helm Library. So it continues to be a marker of the past but a signal to our proud future,” said Caboni.

This new food court is to replace Garrett Food Court in the neighboring building.

The goal is to have the building open by July and demolition of GFC will follow.