Spring Break
College town in the works for Charles Village
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Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse Inc. was selected from among eight different developing firms by a committee of deans, trustees and administrators to begin outlining the residential needs and community attractions necessary to make Charles Village a thriving retail complex. This development, originally surveyed in the 2000 Master Plan for Homewood campus, coincides with a larger citywide streetscape renovation of the area stretching from 25th Street to University Parkway.
Hopkins plans involve creating a strong retail presence, namely by relocating the obscured university bookstore from the basement of Gilman Hall onto the corner of 33rd and Charles Streets. This frequented locale would open the boulevard to residents and students alike.
Student housing is expected to propagate in this area as well, creating new apartments for both upperclassmen and the influx of expected freshmen, as well as reducing the weekend exodus into the suburbs for shopping around the retail monolith of Towson.
"It is something we have wanted to provide, especially for upperclassmen, in the last two or three years," said Susan Boswell, dean of Student Life. "There will be more availability, and although it's really too early to put a price-tag on the development, I don't think the cost will be outrageously different from what we have now."
Official consultation begins this month along with the release of a general survey by the Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE), which has spent the last year studying the undergraduate experience at Hopkins. As they issue their interim report in the upcoming weeks, a survey will be distributed to determine what student-housing interests are amongst undergraduates.
"It ties in very nicely," said Dennis O'Shea, executive director of communications and public affairs. "The university has a long-term goal of making housing available to any undergraduate who wants it. Today we can't offer that, beyond what limited space is available in Ivy and Homewood."
David McDonough, director of Hopkins real estate development, explained that the last several months were spent conducting preliminary research, interviewing some 100 students, faculty and administrators, as well as meeting with focus groups to determine the likes and dislikes of the Hopkins community at large.
The majority called for more student housing, a new home for the bookstore, a post-office, an Allfirst location, added retail and parking accommodations.
Graduate of 2002 Steve Goutman represented student interests in the committee and voiced the need for additional housing beyond the existing facilities of Wolman, McCoy, Ivy and the Bradford.
Long-term plans to demolish Ivy and its subterranean Royal Farms outlet will be among the first signs of development. Nevertheless, the primary delay on construction, namely the hold issued until 2004, is largely kept to honor the remaining leases of residents in this facility. After such terms are respected, however, O'Shea explains, "The project will be an important step towards meeting the undergraduate demand for on-campus housing."
The discussion over the type and format of the new development will depend largely on the upcoming consultations.
"The survey will help shape the program and inform our decision, but nothing is off the table right now," O'Shea said.
The Charles Village Project, as it is called, was announced Jan. 16 as a movement towards integrating Homewood and its housing sprawl into the surrounding community of Charles Village.
"We have no intention of becoming a "collegetown' in any pejorative sense," said McDonough. "We want to enhance what is already a nice and rich university environment in Charles Village, adding good restaurants and retail, keeping in mind other successful ventures such as Harvard Square, Palmer at Princeton and Chapel Square at Yale."
Sponsorship of the bookstore will be open to change as the current sponsor Barnes & Noble will be made to bid against other potential companies. Regardless of who owns the bookstore, however, students can expect more shops, more hangouts and more housing by 2005. Many are championing these new administrative efforts to enhance the overall standard of living on campus as part of the developments anticipated by the Master Plan in 2000.
Hopkins' holdings along Charles Street have not changed over the years, but will have to accommodate long-term community plans to improve the traffic situation. Changes will reroute the notorious "death lane" that has been a regular source of automotive accidents, recently including the death of a jogger, all of which have been reported as a matters of concern by the Charles Village Discussion forum.
According to O'Shea, "calming traffic and improving safety for pedestrians" is a primary concern of the University.
"The two programs are obviously not the same, but they are definitely complementary in how they will encourage links between communities and institutions, also including the BMA," said O'Shea. "The streetscape should be the optimum design to encourage links back and forth between campus and shopping. A project like this fits in very nicely with our particular plan for Homewood."
Administrators have only just completed the task of selecting a proposal from several community planning firms.
Boswell commented, "The meetings so far have just been very general discussions about the submitted proposals. Nothing really gets to the nitty-gritty, as in the number of beds and how the furniture will be arranged. That is all coming up in the next few weeks."
Community meetings will commence two weeks from now, and O'Shea commented that "although at this point nothing has been designed, its certainly fair to say what [the University has] heard from residents is that the design must be in keeping with the character of the community."
Parking has already been secured by the University as part of its holding in this community development venture, and although the Homewood garage has been described as "antiquated and out of date," part of the Master Plan has been to support the parking needs of Charles Village, as well as satisfy the additional demands that retail would attract.
Beginning last spring, Hopkins began surveying a panel of 40 developers in the Baltimore area, narrowing down the selection over the last six months. On Jan. 16, they announced Struever Bros. as the chosen firm out of the top choices.
"A total of eight developers expressed interest, and we had to choose," said O'Shea. "Not to talk about the losing bidders, the Struever brothers have a lot of experience in Baltimore and with Baltimore communities. They put a good team together and we were very impressed."
"We'd like to imagine a Charles Village with professors and students walking around between classes, shopping during the day and enjoying the area," McDonough said. "It is all part of the plan to develop a flourishing and vibrant college town on the Hopkins campus."