While no new student housing is slated for construction at UB in the coming academic year, there is an ambitious building plan on the not-so-distant horizon-one that would build on the relatively untouched stretch of land along Lee Road between John James Audubon Parkway and the Student Union and could take as long as a decade to materialize in full.

	While construction of Flint Village is slated for completion in August, other North Campus projects being considered could take five to 10 years to build.
	photo: Stephanie Hamberger

A student services building, a recreation center-akin to a commercial health club-and a new student health center that would serve as the university's primary health-care facility all are being considered, says Clifford B. Wilson, associate vice president for student affairs. Commercial space-a storefront community not unlike The Commons-and a student child-care center also are possibilities but, Wilson is quick to caution, nothing is set in stone-save the eventual construction of additional housing on that parcel.

Stieglitz Snyder Architecture of Blasdell has been hired to develop a master plan and already has begun speaking with various constituencies on campus-student leadership, administrators and other campus groups-to get a feel for what is desired and needed.

"We really do want a lot of input from the campus community with regard to what we build," said Wilson, adding that public hearings on the development are being planned for the fall.

As part of that plan, the university is considering the possibility of extending Lee Road straight through to the Ellicott Complex in order to "improve circulation.and begin to connect Ellicott more to the campus," said Wilson. He noted that the architecture firm also will look at the logistics of the surrounding infrastructure with an eye to improving parking for The Commons and reconfiguring roads, while also providing for the possibility that development could extend into the Jarvis Hall parking lots adjacent to Lee. An enclosed walkway to accommodate pedestrian traffic between Ellicott and the spine also may figure in.

The plan, once consensus is reached as to how to proceed, could take between five and 10 years to build up, and will be a "significant" expense to the university, Wilson said. As for environmental impact to the land, which Wilson said always has been in UB's development sights, the university has been working with the Environmental Task Force on the issue.

And while the North Campus is in the midst of a building boom, the South Campus also is getting its due.

A Buffalo firm has been hired to redevelop the high-rise residential Goodyear Hall, transforming the roughly 500-bed facility into apartment-style housing. Flynn Battaglia Architects PC, which, Wilson said, brought forth the "most interesting and original concept," should have a full-blown design ready by January 2002, with construction beginning in the 2002-03 academic year. The refurbishing will reduce occupancy from 500 to between 300 and 350, he said, but will significantly upgrade the quality of living there.

As well, Wilson said the university has considered constructing new apartments on that campus, between Goodyear and Clement halls near Main Street. The possibility remains, also, that the Pritchard, MacDonald and Schoellkopf residence halls would be phased out as living quarters and made into office space, or they could be torn down.

“As long as there’s demand,” however, Wilson said, “we won’t close them.”

Meantime, Flint Village on the North Campus, a 536-bed apartment complex that will bring the university’s total bed count—including apartments and residence halls on both campuses—to more than 6,900 for fall 2001, is “right on target,” Wilson said, and already is booked for fall. Unfortunately, he added, the university likely will turn away between 300 and 400 students seeking apartments in any of the complexes currently on the North Campus.

“Judging by the demand for apartments,” he said, there seems to be “a real desire” for additional housing. The ultimate goal is for UB to bring its bed total up to 10,000—nearly half the total student population—within the next three to five years. To meet that goal, Wilson said the university is looking at several locations for additional apartment-style housing:

• The area between Hadley Village and the Governors Residence Halls, near Rensch Road

• The area framed by Flint and Maple roads, and Millersport Highway, proximate to the Baker Chilled Water Plant

• Land along Skinnersville Road on the west side of Ellicott Creek

Of particular interest is building housing dedicated to graduate students; no residence buildings on either campus currently cater solely to that group. Flickinger Court, the first project completed in the current housing building boom, was built for graduate and professional students but is located on Chestnut Ridge Road, off Sweet Home Road, northwest of the North Campus.

“We believe (building graduate housing on campus) will help in recruitment and retention of graduate students,” he said, adding that UB will wait to map out further undergraduate housing until the Lee plan is in sharper focus.

For more information on-or a virtual look at-campus housing, log onto http://www.student-affairs.buffalo.edu.