Plant purchase could save money, time

Despite a high initial price tag and a relatively distant location, the university's plan to buy the site of The Washington Post's College Park plant could save money and speed the development of East Campus, top administrators said.

After the university announced it was in the process of purchasing the plant for $12 million, critics questioned a lack of student involvement in the decision. And even though the original decision was partially made based on proximity to campus, the printing plant site is farther from the university. But administrators said the site, which will house facilities relocated to clear space for the $900 million 38-acre East Campus development, would help the process in multiple ways.

The state's Board of Public Works still needs to approve the deal at its Feb. 10 meeting before the university can go forward with moving the facilities, which include the Campus Mail Facility, Shuttle-UM and maintenance shops. The university had originally planned to move these facilities to a 22.4-acre forest near Comcast Center known as the Wooded Hillock. But after outcry from environmentally minded students, faculty and staff, some of whom used the site for instruction, the university reconsidered and announced last week it was in the process of buying the plant.

Administrators said using the now-closed plant would save money on relocation costs, which were originally forecast at around $40 million.

"[The plant is] a 400,000-square-foot building that was built in 1995, and it's very large," university President Dan Mote said. "Of course, it would require some money to modify it to make it totally suitable for us, but we're talking about a $40 or $50 million project on the Wooded Hillock, so it should be less than that even with the payment to buy the property."

And Vice President for Administrative Affairs Ann Wylie said moving facilities into the building, which she estimated would cost $5 million, would be faster than constructing new ones on the hillock, accelerating the relocation process.

"It's like moving into an old house rather than building one yourself," she said.

With the Board of Public Works' approval, the university would begin relocation as soon as possible and could break ground on East Campus, which would bring graduate student housing, stores and a music hall to Route 1, as soon as a year from now, she said.

One drawback to the plant is it is farther from the university than the hillock, which was originally selected using a list of criteria including proximity to the campus. This requirement was designed to maintain "service levels, effectiveness and efficiency" of the displaced facilities, according to a report on the university's East Campus website.

Wylie said using the plant shouldn't significantly harm university services, but she noted longer commutes would increase the amount of carbon emitted by university vehicles. Still, because East Campus will create more housing close to the campus, the net effect should still be an environmental benefit, she said.

"In the grand scheme of things, on campus would have been better, but there wasn't any place to put it on campus that was acceptable to our community," Wylie said.

When the hillock was initially selected, some students and faculty complained the site was chosen without the input of the university community. As a result, the University Senate — which is composed of faculty, staff and students and directly advises Mote on policy issues — formed a committee last semester to look into the issue. Last week, some student activists said the university had once again failed to consult with the university community before selecting the plant.

Wylie said she is in favor of having students on decision-making committees, but in this case, consulting students would have been "impossible."

"When you're trying to purchase a building like that, it's not a public process," Wylie said. Involving students would have driven up the price or prevented the university from buying the site, which other groups were also vying for, she said.

cox@umdbk.com