Though some events are taking place off-site, Lincoln Center Festival and its summer cohorts, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors and Midsummer Night’s Swing, still provide plenty of reasons for a trip to the Lincoln Center complex. This year, though, visitors to the plaza may walk away with a question in mind: What happened to the drink cart?

As one of several construction projects under way this summer as part of Lincoln Center’s $1 billion historical renovation, the Josie Robinson Plaza is undergoing major changes, and some audience standbys, such as the fountain and the drink cart, have been temporary casualties.

The altering of these traditional locations for Lincoln Center attractions this summer is part of the effort to keep the center running as it undergoes the renovation, which is slated to finish by 2010.

Construction crews are working nearly every day on the fenced-off plaza in order to finish that portion of the project by winter 2009. The renovations include brand-new masonry, a larger staircase leading to the plaza, and a complete upgrade to the Revson Fountain.

Demolition is also taking place where the service road runs parallel to Columbus Avenue in order to sink the vehicular and pedestrian approach to street level.

Such changes mean that festival attendees will find themselves taking different paths to cross the plaza or go from theater to theater.

But the most significant construction project currently under way is at the building that houses Alice Tully Hall and the Juilliard School.

The Alice Tully Hall renovation, a project that includes an expanded 5,000-square-foot lobby with concession stands open to the public throughout the day, has forced the closure of the sidewalk and curbside traffic lane on the northern side of West 65th Street and the corner of Broadway and West 65th Street. A number of pedestrian passageways have been built to bypass the construction. The renovations are slated to be finished in February 2009, so the hall, which has been closed since April 2007, can host a two-week festival.

Several facilities belonging to the Juilliard School have been relocated as crews work on its 40,000-square-foot expansion, with openings expected through 2009. The school’s bookstore, for example, has been moved to a trailer on West 66th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue.

The School of American Ballet’s redesigned and expanded studio space and a new mechanical room, two major aspects of the renovations, have already been finished, and two more projects are expected to break ground this summer: the New York State Theater and the Harmony Atrium project.

The vice president of public relations for Lincoln Center, Betsy Vorce, said that renovations are on schedule. Ribbon cuttings will take place throughout 2009 and 2010 to coincide with the center’s 50th anniversary celebration, which begins in May 2009.

As for the drink cart, patrons can find it in its new incarnation as a dessert cart (which offers drinks alongside 24 flavors of gelato) in nearby Damrosch Park.