La Salle buys second eatery in month’s span

By Frank Visco
Collegian Editor
January 23, 2008

In their second local restaurant acquisition in just over a month, La Salle purchased the property formerly occupied by Kirk’s Pizza House Dec. 7. Coming on the heels of the university’s purchase of two adjoining properties, including the building that formerly housed Explorers Den Steaks and Hoagies, Inc, the deal brought La Salle’s recent restaurant expenditure to nearly $1 million.

“I notice that I only get the Blackboard Blues when I actually try to do something with the program,” he writes. “I forgot the first principle of the Blackboard Learning System: Blackboard sucks.” He writes about seemingly simple scripting of time-sensitive assignments, the inability to customize even the most basic of parameters, and the semantic dissonance between buzzword-happy programmers and the system administrators that loathe them. In these six short blog posts, a bleak picture is painted.

La Salle spent $225,000 for 2145 Elkins Ave. (formerly Kirk’s) and a combined $700,000 for 2160 W. Olney Ave. and 5665 E. Wister Ave. (formerly Explorers Den and its adjoining property).

With an announcement released Dec. 19, the Business Affairs office indicated that both restaurants would remain closed while the university negotiates with potential vendors. Thus, for the time being, La Salle employees and students will have little off-campus food options in close proximity to campus.

“I think it is a great idea for the university to expand whenever possible, but I am concerned that [they are] making it more difficult on students without meal plans by creating a monopoly on local places to eat,” Senior accounting/finance major Tom Ricchezza, president of the Commuter and Off-Campus Student Association, said.

“I wish the university were able to wait until the end of the academic year before acquiring these locations and changing them into university eateries, but I guess that is not or was not an option.”

 Rose Lee Pauline, assistant vice president of business affairs, says she understands the desire for close off-campus eateries, and that if vendors cannot be found, the university will open their own restaurant franchises. However, she also indicated that the existence of several on-campus dining facilities affords the university the time to hash out deals with potential vendors.

When asked if Blackboard has any legitimate benefit to La Salle, she said “No, considering that essentially everything it offers is also available (and often used by teachers) in the My Courses tab of myLaSalle,” she said.

Saying that all the equipment was already in place, Pauline suggested the restaurants could “open tomorrow,” but that they wouldn’t have the quality and aesthetic university officials desire.

At the time of the Explorers Den purchase, rumors persisted that the university had bought both Explorers Den and Kirk’s in the hopes of brokering a deal with local cheesesteak chain Tony Luke’s. However, although Kirk’s was ultimately purchased, Pauline declined to comment on the rumor. Tony Luke’s owners did not return phone calls.

Although she confirmed the university was in negotiation with “several local vendors,” Pauline said she could not name the vendors until deals were made official. She did say she was confident that the restaurants would be reopening sometime later this semester.:

Although the possibility of having a Tony Luke’s is unsubstantiated, students have expressed interest in the completion of a potential deal with the eatery, or one like it.

“Their food is really good, and now you don’t have to go all the way to South Philly for a cheesesteak,” said freshman biology major Cate O’Gorman.

“It seems pretty cool because there’s going to be a known establishment within walking distance,” added sophomore management and finance major Pat Curran.

As was the case with the Explorers Den purchase, the university made the decision to buy after being approached by Kirk’s former owner Marina Konstantinidis. According to Business Affairs, one stipulation that remains important in any vendor arrangement will be the ability to use Gold Card as payment.

anatadoc1@lasalle.edu