Plans for a renovated 7th Street Underground are inching along toward a final proposal to be presented to administration and the eventual renovation.

Members of the 7th Street Underground Planning Committee met Monday to discuss findings of three subcommittees made up at the last planning meeting. The committee consists of representatives from the University Board, Student Government, SONOR, which is an on-campus marketing group, and various administrators from the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Planning for the 7th Street Underground project began a year ago, but a planning committee was assembled in March and has been working on the project since then. Members of the UB and SONOR are undertaking the project in efforts to provide an alternative to the bars.

The 7th Street Underground housed the temporary food court until this spring and before that it housed the Rathskellar restaurant.

A bid for renovations has been submitted to Facilities Planning and Management for a cost estimate by the renovations subcommittee. Proposed renovations include extending the stage to accommodate bigger bands, changes in lighting such as track lighting and fixture changes, replacing current railings around the area with less obtrusive railings, and mounting TVs to the walls.

The subcommittee also presented a lighting proposal which would cost $2,292.10.

The subcommittee dealing with food vendors said that, initially, food in the area would be provided by campus catering and that eventually 7th Street Underground would have a kitchen area.

At this point, committee members are working on cost estimates to propose to university administration. Funding amounts and sources have not been determined.

Hours of operation for the area have yet to be determined. The UB currently has programming planned for Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Proposed hours are from 9 p.m. to midnight or 1 a.m., but the committee also talked about extending hours to 3 a.m. to give students an alternative to after hour activities.

As the area becomes more established, hours and food availability may expand.

The final proposal is set to be complete by May 15. The area is slated to be open the first weekend students return to campus this fall, though complete renovation will likely not be completed at that time.