Many students flock to the Heart of Auburn shopping center off College Street. It hosts popular student eateries such as Tazikis and Burger Fi.
When Auburn University students returned from winter break, they found the dirt lot in the shopping center was under construction.
While one of the lots under construction is going to be a parking lot, the other is going to be a Newk's Eatery, according to city documents.
Newk's will be on the north side and there will be more parking on the south side, according to Forrest Cotten, director of planning for the city of Auburn.
Because of the popularity of the complex, the area is often very crowded. It is not a rare sight to see cars parked in non-parking areas.
"A lot of that space in that multi-tenant building up front was dedicated to restaurants, which have one of the more stringent parking requirements," Cotten said.
Cotten said when the plan for the CVS at the Heart of Auburn was released, it was not clear what the extra lots would be used for.
According to Cotten, there have been issues with dirt being tracked into the road from the dirt lot.
Cotten said since the dirt lot that was used as parking overflow is now under construction, there is less parking available than ever.
According to Deputy Economic Development Director Megan McGowen, the additions to the complex will create 80 new spots.
Josh Wilson, sophomore in physical education, said he is going to walk to the shopping center from his apartment complex to avoid having to find a parking spot.
Developers of the Heart of Auburn wanted the development to be tied to the campus, according to McGowen.
"The hope was that some people would walk to the development," McGowen said.
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