About 20 students expressed concerns yesterday about whether a planned retail-oriented development on university-owned land would include student housing and whether the project would spur Route 1 redevelopment.
Their comments came during a student-oriented forum planned to discuss East Campus, the 38-acre project university officials hope will reinvent the college-town image of College Park. After a presentation that laid out the highlights of the shopping, restaurants and housing options university officials hope East Campus will attract, students appeared impressed by the project's massive scope but said they were concerned about its timeline.
The two-phase project is scheduled to deliver restaurants and a multiplex movie theater by 2011, but it wouldn't be ready for students to move into housing until 2016. That's a long way off for the more than 600 students who found out last week they wouldn't have on-campus housing their senior year due to dire shortages.
Before the housing crisis, however, students had long been clamoring for a better college town off the campus with more dining and shopping options. And from Vice President for Administrative Affairs Doug Duncan's presentation, it appeared that was very much what students would get.
Initial drawings showed red-brick sidewalks and five-story buildings with high-end retail at the ground level and rental housing on top, as FP-Argo Principal Richard Perlmutter told students the project would appear similar to Bethesda Row or Seventh Street in New York.
He emphasized the designs were only initial sketches and were subject to change, as the project is pending approval from the city, county and state.
Students were largely impressed by the designs, saying they were hopeful the plans would offer a sharp departure from the strip malls and sandwich shops they're accustomed to along Route 1.
"It's hard to imagine a place like that right now," senior economics and Spanish major Andrew Gackenbach said. "As a senior, I'm jealous of the kids who are about 10 [years old] right now."
Still, in light of the university's housing shortage, they grilled Perlmutter and co-principal Bryant Foulger on the project's timeline and potential apartment capacity.
Perlmutter said 2,000 housing units and up to 2,500 beds are possible in the new development, but said he couldn't speculate beyond the 2016 deadline proposed when the university first announced the firm as its prospective developer last month.
Senior philosophy major Eric Fidler said he was encouraged by the designs for building length rooms hanging over the boardwalk, but worried their swank design could drive up prices and drive away students.
"Just from the prices it looks like a very nice place to live, but it looks like prices could skyrocket," said Fidler, who also blogs for website RethinkCollegePark.net.
Students also expressed concern about the project's potential impact on Route 1. Perlmutter and Foulger recognized the campus' central street divided the campus, and laid out plans to expand sidewalks and medians along the road.
"Route 1 has been a thoroughfare and a through road, and it can't be that anymore," Perlmutter said. "It's going to look a lot different than it does today.
Contact reporter Ben Slivnick at slivnickdbk@gmail.com.
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