With the addition of a Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, Paty Hall, which once housed a dining hall, will again be a dining location for University of Alabama students in addition to an all-male dorm.

Project manager Matt Denaburg said bidding on the project was completed Tuesday. Construction bidding is a process in which a construction undertaking is proposed, and involves cost estimates and blueprints.

“Right now I would say that the project itself was approved,” Denaburg said, “Some things need to be worked out before proceeding with actual construction.”

He said construction is expected to begin over spring break in order for Paty’s Raising Cane’s to have its grand opening in the middle of May of this year.

University of Alabama spokesperson Cathy Andreen said Wednesday that the plans to build a Raising Cane’s in Paty Hall have been finalized.

“The construction bids have been opened and the project is ready to proceed,” Andreen said.

Denaburg said that the University chose Paty for the project because of future plans to repurpose the residence hall.

(See also “Students should welcome University’s new reforms to campus mail system“)

The Raising Cane’s will be located in the hall’s current lounge area, which will be renovated to accommodate the addition.

“Actually, it would be really great because I study a lot in my room,” Brian Burnett, a current Paty resident majoring in political science, said. “I have to go down to Lakeside to grab something to eat, so the fact that there will be somewhere to go in Paty will be really useful.”

(See also “Paty Hall residents unified despite negative conditions, reputation“)

Raising Cane’s is a restaurant chain based in Baton Rouge, La., specializing in chicken finger meals. There are currently no locations in Tuscaloosa. With the construction of a new location in Paty Hall, the restaurant will be one of two in Alabama.

(See also “Lloyd Hall to add Chik-fil-A, Pizza Hut to dining“)