University View owner Otis Warren told city council members last night that he may be adding a student housing complex to the building’s now-vacant front lot, rather than planned retail or office building.

Warren, the longtime owner of a Baltimore-based development company, also told the council he’d unsuccessfully attempted last year to construct a garage and graduate housing in Lot 11, just behind the View. After Warren had a number of encouraging meetings the university’s then-Vice President of Administrative Affairs John Porcari and other officials, the university suddenly dropped its support for the idea without giving a reason, Warren said.

Warren had presented plans for two buildings on University View’s property, but only the current 16-story tower was ever built. The revelations that he’s considering foregoing plans for an office complex in favor of student housing and that he had attempted to broker a deal with university officials for a second complex behind the View were both unknown to council members.

Warren speculated that the deal to build housing behind the View may have fallen through because university officials preferred students paying for on-campus housing rather than paying a private developer rent.

“I have a feeling, but I can’t really speak on the level of fact,” Warren said. “Sometimes, we’re seen as competition. But we’re not.”

The decision to change the University View addition to student housing from office space came because recent research showed that between planned university developments East Campus and M-Square, the university would be able to construct enough office space to satisfy its need for the next 15 years.

“It sounds like the university is turning their sights to M-Square and may not be interested in your site,” District 3 Councilwoman-elect Stephanie Stullich said.

Mayor Stephen Brayman added that the university has agreed to pay taxes on its building space in M-Square. The university may not pay taxes on the planned development at East Campus because of the school’s tax-exempt status.

M-Square, which university officials hope will become the largest research park in the state, is still being built on Paint Branch Parkway. Federal agencies are already signed to occupy the space, and officials expect several large research firms to also sign long-term leases. University officials were not available for comment late last night.

“If you look at other universities,” Warren said, “they’re in the business of education, not building a town.”

Despite concerns that the university could be swallowing competition from private developers, Councilman Andrew Fellows, who represents downtown, pointed out that Warren’s University View still “doesn’t look the way [he] presented it” to the council before it was built.

Warren agreed.

“It’s not attractive,” Warren said. “We don’t like it.”

He did not, however, offer any timelines as to when the addition would be built.

The View, which only leases apartments to University of Maryland students, could add about 350 beds for graduate students to the 1,056 already there if Warren’s planned apartments were built on the front of the property, Warren said. He said he hasn’t discussed building more student housing with the university.

Whether the building out front becomes office or retail space or student housing is still undecided, but Warren faces a dilemma. While the originally planned office/retail space would fit into the zoning requirements, a new building could exceed residential-density limits, council members pointed out.

And Number 1 Liquors has also been a point of contention for council members, as Warren said his efforts to buy the small store at the View’s doorsteps have continued since the View was built.

The store sits squarely in a mishmash of traffic patterns, and Warren said he’s been working with the state to possibly construct a roundabout so residents can exit at the traffic light on Route 1 that serves Number 1, just ahead of the View.

District 1 Councilman John Krouse, who represents North College Park, joked that liquor stores are the only establishments the university is not interested in for M-Square or East Campus.

“It just makes me wonder,” Krouse said, “what is the limit to the growth of this university and its effect on local business?”

Contact reporter Mike Silvestri at silvestridbk@gmail.com.