Developers Pack East Campus Forum
Over 120 people representing real estate development companies packed Richie Coliseum this morning to hear about the university’s plans for the East Campus Redevelopment Initiative. The presentation, covering a variety of information contained on the university’s East Campus project website, was similar in content to the poorly promoted public meeting held Monday which drew about a dozen community members. (Pictured below)
University officials told the developers they were interested in designs creating a “urban district of streets and blocks” as envisioned by a student architecture studio conducted in 1999 that included at least 1.4 million square feet of construction. Officials said they hoped to see proposals including graduate student housing and “some undergraduate housing” not because they desired it, but because they thought it might be necessary to reduce costs for graduate students. John Porcari, the vice president of administrative affairs, told the group they desired retail as being a “small jewel” of the project. Under plans currently discussed Old Leonardtown would be demolished but it would be up to the developer selected to decide whether to preserve the 400-bed New Leonardtown complex.
The university plans to release the first of two Requests for Proposals to developers on September 25 with more details about their requirments for the project. They also said they would post the results of a market study on the East Campus website within the next two weeks. We think housing and a large amount of retail including a supermarket are both important to students. What would you like to see on the site?
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