One of the original buildings constructed on Dillard’s campus in 1934, Kearny is now the focal point for student activities on the first floor and the main dining hall on the second floor. The 44,000 SF building had undergone three expansions in the past, and could not expand further given its central location on campus. Clement & Wynn was asked to devise a program for expanding the kitchen and servery to accommodate up to 1,200 servings per meal, seat 600 students at one time, create a retail mall and food court on the first floor, renovate the existing student lounge, construct an outdoor gathering space and a entry off the rear of Kearny, and conduct the renovation to the building without disrupting daily operations of the kitchen and student affairs spaces. Clement & Wynn’s pre-construction duties included facility programming, assembling a design-build team, negotiating a fixed limit of construction, defining each phase of the work, and obtaining agency approval for building permits. The $4 million renovation was completed in five phases over a 30-month period, and included a new outdoor gathering space, Kabacoff Quadrangle, centered around four stately oak trees.