On Thursday, Sept. 13, the Department of Residence (DOR) released information on the reopening date  and time for the Rialto Dining Center. According to the DOR  website, Rialto is scheduled to open at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 18 for dinner.

Rialto has been closed since Monday, Sept. 4, due to a joint steam line that broke early that morning. The initital leak filled Rialto with hot steam, which then activiated Rialto’s sprinkler system. This caused extensive damage, which according the DOR said included delaminated veneer from walls and tables, collapsed ceiling tiles, melted electrial outlets, damaged water electrail equipment, and damage to the dining center’s fire alarm panel.

On the morning of Monday, Sept. 10, a second major steam leak occurred, which caused the death of a 61-year-old university employee Kevin Bley, who worked as a steamfitter.

Since the second major steam leak, the DOR hired a third-party engineering firm, HBK Engineering LLC, to investigate procedures and polices regarding the incident.

According to Mitch McAlister, assistant dining manager at Rialto, “[The] safety of the building is [now] 100 percent, the utility issue is fixed. They were very careful fixing the issue.”

Though Rialto is functionally ready to open, cosmetic work on the dining center is still ongoing.

The DOR’s Rialto Recovery page stated, “Please know the issues preventing the dining center from reopening were associated with the underground steam tunnel and not within Rialto itself. The facility remains safe. We also want our guests to understand that upon opening, temporary cosmetic work will remain to continue to be a focus.”

McAlister told the NI that in order for Rilato to reopen, “everything in the dining center needs to be cleaned and sanitized for the safety of our customers.” 

When asked to describe the current state of Rialto, McAlister said, “It’s a work in progress. Primarily cosmetic things need to be fixed.”

According to McAlister one of the most important parts of reopening Rialto was getting a fire panel up and running. A fire panel detects a fire and contacts authorities appropriate for a  situation.

Rialto’s  fire panel was ruined during the fire steam leak on Sept. 4, and the university was unable was unable to reopen the dining center until a fire panel was back in place and functional.Now, Rialto’s new fire panel is up and ready to go.

In regards to preparing for anything like this to happen again, McAlister stated, “It was freak accident and beyond our knowledge. There’s nothing that could have prevented this.”

When it comes to Rialto reopening, McAlister is looking forward to “Having our team and family back together so we’re able to provide exceptional service. Glad to be going back.”

Student Supervisor Molly Mingus commented on Rialto reopening.

“I’m looking forward to being back with my team and I’m ready to start working on new projects to get Rialto back to where it was,” said Mingus.

According to McAlister, once it is back up and running, Rialto plans to have a welcome back event for students.

Sophomore Rialto employee Skylar Schrum is also looking forward to returning to the dining center.

“I’m very excited now to be going back,” Schrum said.

“There’s some issues with the bulding being a mess, I’ve heard, but they’re working on it and we’ll see how long that takes.”

According to the DOR, the morning breakfasts being served in Bender and Dancer will continue through Tuesday morning.