East Campus 101

For now, it's a bus depot. A power plant. A ramshackle village of maintenance shacks.

But by the time most of this year's freshmen will graduate, the 38 university-owned acres across Route 1 and along Paint Branch Parkway will include a vast mix of shops, hotel rooms and housing.

University officials are counting on the development to bring the campus newfound prestige and university historian Anne Turkos is already predicting the project will be among the most dramatic change to sweep the area in decades. Not since the Great Depression-era building boom that shaped today's McKeldin Mall has the university embarked on such a transformative plan.

"People will see this as a landmark event in the university's history," Turkos said.

But the greatest difference now is the speed with which developers are moving to build the massive, $500 million development. While McKeldin Mall took more than 20 years to shape, it's been just six months since university officials announced they had selected developer Foulger-Pratt Argo as the preferred partner.

And the firm, which gained widespread recognition for its work reviving the long-blighted downtown Silver Spring, could break ground as early as 2009.

Plans include high-end retail sharing sidewalks with white-table cloth restaurant and a grocery store. A movie theater will return to downtown for the first time in decades and a luxury hotel with rooms overlooking the sprawling campus will welcome visitors to the city.

In some ways, the planning process that is taking place now is among the most important times the project will ever face. The development is aimed at attracting area residents - not just students and their parents - and so far, community input has been strong from those who have recognized the project's potential impact.

City officials, business owners, residents and older students have packed a series of public meetings the project's developers launched last spring. But student voices on the project have been inconsistent.

The university placed three students on the steering committee that this semester will be reviewing and revising the project's plans. A separate student committee gathers before every meeting

At a hearing geared toward residents last semester, hundreds packed the risers at Ritchie Coliseum. At a similar meeting targeting students the week before, no more than 30 were there.

The problem isn't that the university hasn't engaged students, or that students don't care, said Student Government Association President Andrew Friedson, who sits on the steering committee. Rather, he said many students just simply don't understand the project.

"If you ask most students, they'd tell you they heard about it, but they don't really know what East Campus means. I've gone around and spoken with students and some have got it, but a lot have said 'yeah, I've heard of that but what does it entail?'"

The answer will unfold this semester as the steering committee prepares to face topics including the project's retail mixture, funding and transportation plans. Their next meeting will be Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the Stamp Student Union.

With developers priming to present their plans to the county council this spring, details surrounding the project could be forthcoming soon.

"We are hoping to move as fast as we can on this project," FP-Argo principal Richard Perlmutter said.

[Editor's note: Because of the large scope of the project, The Diamondback will continue to present articles outlining specific aspects of the East Campus project as the planning process unfolds. To learn more about the project and to view plans being considered by the steering committee, visit www.diamondbackonline.com/eastcampus.]

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