After months of delays and several construction setbacks, the Memorial Union Food Court will open with four restaurants and two snack bars Monday.

Tomassito’s, serving pizza, pasta and submarine sandwiches, and Hearthstone, which serves a traditional-style cafeteria menu, will open Monday. They will join Panda Express and Subway, which are already in operation.

Burgie’s Espresso Cafe and Freshens Ice Cream will also open on Monday, said Kathy Svec, marketing director for the Union.

“The restaurants are fully equipped and we’re going through testing right now and might have food going by the end of the week,” she said.

However, Svec later said she did not foresee Tomassito’s or Hearthstone opening before Monday because of logistics and employee training that still must be completed.

Chick-fil-A, which serves broiled and broasted chicken and hand-squeezed lemonade, will most likely open June 24.

Casa-Ortega, a Mexican restaurant which is a branch of Ortega foods, should open in early July, Svec said.

Svec said she hopes to see McDonald’s opening soon also, but the contracts have not been signed and are still being negotiated. However, Svec said she expects to see the contracts signed within the next few days.

The old Commons has been completely redesigned to accommodate the new restaurants and additional seating. The new area is much more spacious and open, Svec said. The Commons also has a new link to the Trophy Tavern on the north end, while the link on the south has been expanded to make the Tavern more accessible from the Commons.

Several of the old meeting rooms are gone, but Svec said that keeping some of the old meeting rooms, such as the Pine Room, the Nook and the Cranny, was a priority because students use those rooms frequently.

Even though many of the new restaurants are either open or opening, Svec said construction will be underway in the Union for the rest of the summer. However, Svec also said, “We are really beginning to see the finishing touches out on the food court area.”

Tom Ryan, operations manager of Subway in the Union, said Subway is very excited to be in the Union and business is going “real good so far — just fantastic.”

“We have been open since May 28 and we are very, very encouraged by the turnout so far,” he said.

Ryan went on to say that all the customers seem very enthusiastic about the new food court. “I think its going to bring the Union back to life.”

Michael Nori, manager of Panda Express, said business is going well for them also. “So far, so good,” he said. “We’re really happy about what’s going on.”

Although there are over 250 Panda Express restaurants across the United States, this is the first one in Iowa, but Nori said that Panda Express is “seriously looking at the state of Iowa.”

Construction has also begun on the new student office space, which will house the Government of Student Body, the Student Union Board and other student groups.

“We are confident that the student space will be completed by the end of September, but we hope to have it completed even sooner,” Svec said. She said the student space should not have nearly as many construction problems as the food court area because the office space has a simpler layout and will not require as many structural changes.

“What’s happening is we’re winding down in one area while another area is winding up,” Svec said.

GSB will be housed in the offices on the east side of the Browsing Library. The SUB offices will be on the west side with other student groups on either side, Svec said. Onion’s convenience store will also have a new location — directly across the hall from Panda Express.

In addition to these changes, the Memorial Union is set to offer some new services, including a new full-service post office that is already open on the main floor.

Another new feature of the Union is the addition of ISUCard cash-to-card machines, which will allow students to put cash on their cards that can later be used at vending machines. The new vending machines, which will be equipped with magnetic stripe readers, will be located throughout the Union and the rest of campus.

Most of the services available during the past year will continue to be available in the renovated Union, including TicketMaster, the bowling alley/arcade in the basement and plenty of new cash machines.