This morning in Ritchie Coliseum, university officials will meet with developers to discuss the massive East Campus Redevelopment Initiative, the huge scope of which will redefine College Park and could mean the eventual end to disparaging comments about our college town. This information session comes after a community forum held Monday to engage the campus community in the idea. The project is in its preliminary stages, but it will probably mean thousands of additional student beds on the campus, a new “town center” with office and retail space and a hotel and conference center, all on land directly across from the campus north gate.
The 38-acre project site, which will be leased by the university to a developer, includes most of the land between Paint Branch Parkway, Route 1 and Fraternity Row. The area currently contains the Shuttle-UM bus yard, an old greenhouse and a collection of maintenance trailers. Old Leonardtown is also on the chopping block along with parking lots that wrap around the back of Fraternity Row.
Reflecting on the magnitude of this project, John Porcari, the vice president of administrative affairs, proclaimed at Monday’s forum that the university will “anchor the redevelopment of Route 1 with this project.” Indeed, the site provides a tremendous opportunity for the university to integrate a rational, pedestrian-oriented downtown into the campus that is on-par with other great college towns. The proximity of the project to the existing downtown, McKeldin Mall and virtually all student housing on and near the campus ensures that it could be a great success. Plus, it is a chance to tie the campus to the now-distant Metro station and planned research park.
Ginny Schuelke, a facilities planning coordinator, is quoted in university publications as saying, “We don’t want to refer to this as a town center. We don’t want the city of College Park to think we’re taking over. This is a very exciting project that’s going to benefit everybody.” While the politics behind such a statement are clear for all to see, it sheds light on just how deliberate and open every step of this far-reaching project should be.
Amid all the optimism at Monday’s forum and extent of development that lies ahead, I can’t help but think the university needs to do more to connect to the student body on this issue. Only about a dozen students came and, even then, many of them were either reporting on the meeting or in an elected office. Some will declare that this meager attendance is evidence that students simply don’t care about East Campus, because the project won’t be built for years and all of us should be long gone and graduated by then. I couldn’t disagree more with this sentiment.
Students are clearly frustrated with the state of the university’s downtown and poorly thought-out projects such as University View. I suggest the excitement, optimism and enthusiasm displayed during last semester’s Student Government Association all-day charrette on April 15, attended by more than 100 students and faculty, is proof the campus community wants a stake in College Park’s future. Interest in East Campus as a potential new “town center” dates back to a 1999 School of Architecture urban design studio. You would be hard-pressed to find a student without strong feelings about the state of present-day College Park.
I attribute the poor student showing at Monday’s forum to the university’s weak attempts to market the event campus-wide and its failure to convey the scale of the project. Students can and must play a significant role in the East Campus Initiative going forward, or we risk getting the same mediocre development that has plagued College Park time and time again. It is eminently clear that we are all ready to have a great college town. After talking with officials at Monday’s forum I can see they are open to meaningful student participation – the two groups just need to meet halfway.
David Daddio is a senior environmental economics major. He can be reached at ddaddio@umd.edu.
