The Holmes Student Center just isn’t “lovin’ it” anymore.

As of May 12, NIU will bid farewell to the McDonald’s in the HSC.

The franchise will close to make way for Subway, which hopes to have the space open for business before fall semester starts.

“We are really excited about the Subway brand,” said Mitch Kielb, director of the HSC. “We are really happy with them and think they are going to be a really good addition to the student center.”

The ball of change began to roll early this semester when McDonalds’ contract on the space came up for renewal. As such, NIU was legally obliged to put the contract up for bid .

“McDonalds’ contract was up so we put [the space] up for bid,” said Bob Albanese, associate vice president of Finance and Facilities. “McDonald’s chose not to put up a bid.”

While McDonald’s declined to resubmit, there were others interested in the location.

“There were really only two real, valid bidders,” Kielb said. “Three [venues] bid, but one did so in such a way that we couldn’t consider them. The two we did consider, we looked at the menu, the hours and the brand name itself. One of the things we were looking for was a recognizable brand name.”

Finding someone to replace McDonald’s didn’t take long.

While bids were submitted at the end of February, the final decision was made March 27, after much deliberation and a question and answer session between Subway representatives and NIU.

Although Subway only acquired the contract in the past month, Tom Nelson, future owner of the student center Subway and current owner of the Subway restaurants at 901 Lucinda Ave., Suite D and 162 W. Lincoln Highway, already has big plans for the new location.

“Our intention is to remove the front counter, knock down a few walls and instead of having a front counter as a customer, you would walk into the site,” Nelson said. “We hope to have two different serving lines. My intention is to serve the customers absolutely, blazing fast.”

The reconstruction costs are to fall entirely on Subway, as part of the contract Nelson signed.

While there potentially will be a lot of work going on, the construction will likely affect NIU summer students.

“We ask people who want to [work with us] to pick up the cost of the remodeling,” Albanese said. “Basically, the traffic in that building during the summer is not going to be disrupted and our goal is to be ready for the fall semester, which we will be.”

Subway won’t be the only change to the student center’s dining options.

Because of the changeover, the Blackhawk Cafeteria will also see some changes.

“Now that we are going to have a different venue, what we are going to do is evaluate what we do in the Blackhawk Cafeteria and make sure that menu complements what Subway is going to do, since we own that space,” Albanese said. “Obviously, we wouldn’t want to duplicate what Subway is doing. There may be some minor remodeling but nothing major.”