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Faced with an anticipated housing shortage due to enrollment growth, Towson University is looking off-campus -- and possibly to the Towson Circle -- for more beds. In the coming weeks, TU will request proposals from local developers for an apartment complex within walking distance of campus, President Robert Caret said last week.
One of those proposals may come from Heritage Properties, whose plans for development near the Towson Circle have elicited complaints from community members. Officials with Heritage Properties have expressed interest in building an apartment complex for University students and faculty members in downtown Towson as part of a larger "Towson Circle III" project. But TU has not committed to the proposal.
The University received permission earlier this month from the Board of Regents Fiscal Services committee to release a "request for proposals" that would look for local opportunities to develop student housing, Caret said.
The RFP will come out in about two weeks. Caret said Towson University will accept student housing proposals that have 400-600 beds and are within walking distance of campus.
"I'm interested in a project that gives us the housing we need in the timeframe we need, that is in proximity to campus and ties us to the general urban core of Towson," Caret said. "I want to use this project, if we can, to develop more of a college town feel." Caret said the Towson Circle III project "obviously fits all those criteria, but others may, also."
David Harnage, the University's chief fiscal officer, said he couldn't comment about specific proposals because the University will soon enter into a competitive bidding process for student housing. But he said the RFP aligns with Towson's effort to partner with the surrounding areas.
"There is an expressed desire, I believe, on the county's part to strengthen the relationship between the Towson business core and the University. One of the ways to do that is to integrate student housing into the area," Harnage said.
Harnage stressed "student housing" does not mean "dormitories," and Caret said the apartments would be marketed toward upper division and graduate students and perhaps faculty and staff. But some community members have doubted that older students would want to live in the complexes under consideration.
The concept of integrating student housing in downtown Towson arose two years ago, during conversations surrounding the Towson Revitalization Partnership. A committee headed by Councilmember Vince Gardina focused on methods of stimulating the area's business core.
"If we don't create a market base downtown...businesses are not going to invest the kind of money that they need to invest," Gardina said.
During the revitalization discussions, Harnage raised the idea of "connecting the University with the northern part of the business district," Gardina recalled.
"One of the issues that was on the table is, if you're going to have a strong retail-based business community for shops and restaurants and entertainment and the like, then there had to be lots of foot traffic to sustain that business," Harnage explained in an interview last week. "One of the ideas that was proposed...to increase traffic was to integrate housing within the business core, as a mixed-use community. That does not necessarily limit itself to student housing."
Grand plans for Towson Circle expansion
Increased foot traffic is one of the goals behind the four-acre Towson Circle III project, which county officials hope will stimulate economic development throughout the downtown area. The current Towson Circle building, at York Road and Joppa Road, houses Barnes & Noble, Trader Joe's and several other retailers. Developers hope to expand the project across Shealy Avenue, near Joppa Road.
Preliminary plans for the project were introduced last March, and Baltimore County has granted preliminary approval for the project. It did not require community input because it was approved as a "refinement" of an earlier plan for the Towson Circle area. Criticism from community members led the county executive to promise that a public hearing would be held to discuss the project.
Last year Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith requested $2 million from the General Assembly to provide infrastructure for the project. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich's 2006 capital budget proposal includes the funding. "This economic development project will be a major win for the citizens of Baltimore," a statement from Ehrlich said last month. Caret said the developers of the Towson Circle project have worked with the University from the beginning.
"We said we would be interested, and we made it very, very clear from the beginning that we couldn't make any promises until we received approval from the [Board of Regents]," Caret said.
At the Greater Towson Council of Community Association's monthly meeting on Thursday, President Judy Gregory described her recent conversation with a representative of Heritage Properties.
"He does not have any signed contracts with Towson University, Dave & Busters, or the Revenue Authority," Gregory said. "So to me, it's all liquid Jell-O at this point." Several members of the GTCCA have expressed opposition to the plan.
"We're going to be the ones who are encroached on," Virginia Towers resident Donna Merkle said at the meeting, referring to her expectations that parking problems and crime rates would increase if students were living near her building.
A Heritage representative had no comment about the status of the project, except to say the company would "most likely" submit a proposal to the University.
Heritage declined to release an illustration of the site plan to The Towerlight. But a photocopy provided to community members showed an "entertainment complex," possibly Dave & Busters, along Shealy Avenue, on top of what is currently a Towson Circle parking lot. The apartment complex is pictured at the intersection of Virginia Avenue and E. Pennsylvania Avenue. In the sketch, the parking garage is placed between and behind the apartments and the retail building.
Circle plans not final, officials say
"They walked away from it, and we ended up with Bahama Breeze," Gregory said.
Or as Baltimore County Office of Planning Coordinator Kevin Gambrill put it at the GTCAA meeting, "these are all big chess pieces that must align just so."
At the meeting, Gardina continued to defend the project in the face of critiques from community members.
"To criticize the project at this point, without knowing exactly what it is, I think is premature," he said. "I really think that the negative connotation for the student housing is misplaced."
Corrine Becker, a delegate from the Riderwood Hills Community Association, disagreed. She directed her comments toward Ridgely Condominium and Virginia Towers residents.
"Look at what these units are, because no matter what they're telling you now, if they're going for anything less than $200,000, they're going to be full of kids," Becker said. "They're going to be dormitories...and your property values are not going to be enhanced by dormitories."
Towson University has not committed to participating in a project on the Towson Circle. If the University chooses not to participate in the project, the developers could still build apartments on the site with an eye toward leasing them to students.
If Thursday's meeting was an indication, any proposal to create additional off-campus housing may be met with hostility by community members.
"In Wiltondale we're feeling the encroachment of Towson," Wiltondale Improvement Association President Jim Kirschner said, calling colleges "land-grabbers." "We know Towson wants to grow and expand, yet I don't see the University taking any responsibility."
The bidding process for the RFP will take between 60 and 90 days. The University's decision to request the proposals involves technical issues related to debt capacity, Harnage said.
Towson may, in essence, buy a product provided by a developer. Under that scenario, the costs of building and financing the facility would be handled by the developer -- thus avoiding concerns surrounding the University's debt load.
The building may take the form of a public-private partnership, similar to Millennium Hall, which was completed in 2000 across from the Enrollment Services building. It was built on University property, but is maintained and operated by a private firm.
Capstone Management is responsible for all aspects of the property, including leasing, residence life and facility maintenance.
But the final project may look nothing like the proposal. Heritage may have attached the University's name to the project to make it sound more attractive or prestigious, without any firm agreement from the institution, one official suggested. Gregory noted Heritage had planned to build a high-rise hotel on Joppa Road several years ago, across from Burger King.
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