New Haven Independent

Yale’s storied exclusive eating club at 306 York St. plans to reopen and refill its drinking chalices in time for the Whiffenpoofs a capella group’s 100th anniversary on the weekend of Oct. 4.

The club, as much as a traditional Yale symbol as the bulldog, closed its doors last December. It fell prey to a combination of the recession and debt fueled by declining membership in an institution struggling to redefine itself in a new era.

Mory’s has hired architect Glenn Gregg to design a plan to renovate a building that suffered from deferred maintenance. The plan is to have at least a “soft opening” in the fall, with the “front of the house” operational, according to Board of Governors President Chris Getman. Gregg’s firm, Gregg, Wies & Gardner Architects of East Street in New Haven, worked on renovations of Yale’s alumni house and its visitor center.

The New York Post “Page 6” gossip section Wednesday reported that Mory’s board members are footing the bill for a $1 million renovation.

That’s inaccurate, Getman said later Wednesday. The board is looking for outside donors. And the bill will well exceed $1 million for anything other than basic renovations.

“We’ve got to find [the money]. There are plenty of people for whom $1 million is chump change,” Getman said. There’s no set dollar figure yet for the renovation for Mory’s, which Getman called “rampant with code violations.” The “dream” version of a renovation plan would include spiffy new banquet and bar areas.

As important as the renovations will be the strategy for attracting members.

“First of all, we hope to improve the quality of the food,” Getman said. “We hope to improve the quality of the service. We hope to improve the quality of the presentation. We hope to make it — not that it’s not, in my opinion — completely accessible to students … and more attractive to annual members. Which means the dues will hopefully be a little less onerous.”

Student members pay only $40 to belong to Mory’s over the entire course of their enrollment at Yale. The others — “annual members” — were paying $250 a year. The board is considering a plan to lower the latter figure considerably.