A new shopping and dining area has recently opened. Approximately 20 minutes from George Mason University’s Fairfax campus, the Mosaic District offers something for everyone.

Located off of Lee Highway and Gallows Road, the Mosaic District was built over abandoned land. Previously looking like a resting site for broken dumpsters, the area now boasts hip stores, restaurants and a high-tech movie theater.

As interest in sustainability increases on campus, Mason Dining has expanded some of its projects to reduce the impact of food services on the environment.

Within the next few months, Mason Dining will begin offering a reusable container called “Choose to Reuse” as a more sustainable alternative to the current disposable boxes used in places like the Johnson Center and the Pilot House.

Everlasting Life Café will no longer open a location at George Mason University because café management made an economic decision to terminate the lease, according to Mark Kraner, executive director of Campus Retail Operations.

Everlasting Life Café serves 100 percent vegan food with organic and raw options, according to their website.  The café planned to occupy a space in University Hall this semester, however, after finalizing the construction costs they withdrew.

In the fall of 2009, George Mason University was classified as a commuter campus. Now, four years later in the fall of 2012, much at Mason has changed. The university has seen a monumental change in its identity. New administrative buildings and residential halls have grown up from empty spaces. Former parking lots and buildings have been gutted and reinvented completely. Although it has been a somewhat cumbersome process, the campus has entered a new phase in its life--that of a residential campus beginning to forge its own unique identity.