The Corp has elected not to open a new coffee shop in the McDonough School of Business building, citing inadequate space.

“The process for assigning space [in the new building] was, we understand, very complicated, and we came to the mutual conclusion that the space that was made available to us would not be adequate to serve students well,” said Ryan Callahan (SFS ’10), chief executive officer of The Corp. “We have not continued to pursue placement in the new MSB building.”

According to Callahan, The Corp had originally placed its bid in March 2008, but by July 2008 it was clear it would not receive the amount of room in the building for which it had hoped.

“[We talked to The Corp] after the building had been designed, and we were trying to accommodate them, but it turned out that we just didn’t have the space,” said Virginia Flavin, director of Facilities Planning and Special Events for the MSB.

The area was significantly smaller than Midnight Mug and Uncommon Grounds, so The Corp’s only option would have been to open a More Uncommon Grounds-type of operation, which takes up much less room.

“While MUG does a great job with the space that they have, we wouldn’t want to put another coffee shop in that position of trying to serve a very large classroom building with very little space,” Callahan said.

According to Flavin, administrators had not originally considered putting a coffee shop in the building because of its proximity to the Leavey Center. While The Corp is no longer pursuing placement, the university will not be accepting bids from other businesses.

“Every time we put one thing in the building, we have to give something else up, and we just don’t have enough room,” Flavin said.

Callahan regrets The Corp will not be able to expand its services into the new building.

“We were obviously disappointed that we would not have the opportunity to open a new shop in that building,” Callahan said. “We believe we can best serve students’ coffee needs at UG, which is a full-size, fully equipped service with room to grow.”

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