With $5 million in state funding in hand and a new request for developer proposals out, the university appears ready to move forward with the East Campus development after a year’s worth of delays.
The 38-acre development that may cost up to $1 billion development is supposed to revive College Park’s image, bringing high-end retail and dining to downtown, alongside a luxury hotel, a grocery store, graduate student housing, a movie theater and the Birchmere Music Hall. The first phase of the project was originally scheduled to be completed by 2011.
But when the economy turned sour, plans to jump-start the project’s construction stalled. Developer Foulger-Pratt/Argo pulled out of the project last fall because it couldn’t secure the loans necessary to fund the massive project, and the plan to relocate facilities to the Wooded Hillock met heavy opposition from some students and faculty. To ease those concerns, university administrators purchased the shuttered Washington Post Co. printing plant and opted to relocate facilities there instead.
While FP/Argo was originally going to be the project’s sole developer, university officials are now planning on using multiple developers to build the project piece-by-piece. Administrators plan to find a developer for Part 1 of the project by July 26. Part 1 includes the luxury hotel, a town center with retailers, a power plant and a transit station.
David Daddio, a university alumnus who writes Rethink College Park, a blog about development in the city, said the university’s new strategy is a much more realistic way to ensure the development of East Campus.
“I think this [request for proposals] is a more workable way to realizing East Campus,” he said. “It will definitely be more effective. Originally, it was one huge chunk for one developer to bite off. This breaks it up into phases so the developer isn’t biting off more than it can chew.”
Undergraduate university senator Jonathan Sachs said it seems the university has a solid strategy the second time around.
“You gotta do what works,” he said. “If the first way wasn’t working, you have to move along and try something else. The proposal is a step forward. [FP/Argo] wanted to things in larger stages but [Vice President for Administrative Affairs Ann Wylie] wanted to break the process up. It’s good the university is optimistic. They need to be.”
Wylie, the top official in charge of the development, declined to comment so early in the development process. But College Park City Council members were encouraged by the forward moves.
“It’s their intention to move forward and to get the process started,” District 2 Councilman Bob Catlin said. “That’s why the Washington Post plant was purchased. In general, this is a good thing.”
Council members boosted the plan earlier this month when they voted to release $5 million in state funds the university needed them to sign off on. The state allocated another $5 million this year that will also require the council’s permission before the university can spend it.
Catlin said that since the university’s first goal is to build graduate student housing and Birchmere music hall, the city is interested in the proposals that have been requested.
“Certainly graduate student housing is of interest to the city,” he said. “I’m sure there will be city involvement to come.”
Daddio said that by using multiple developers, the graduate housing will be built much faster than under the original structure.
“The university has a really good plan with student housing,” he said. “It’s going to happen a lot sooner.”
Sachs, who also served as the Student Government Association’s city council liaison, said both the university and the city are eager to make this plan a reality.
“It looks like this is progressing,” he said. “The economy is rebounding a little bit, and optimism over the project is good. East Campus is crucial to the university — I don’t think anyone would argue that fact. Having sat with the city council, I know this is a priority for the city, as well. Everyone’s committed to bring about East Campus because it’s crucial to the future of the university.”
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