Visionary Thinking

WHEN STARTING WITH a clean slate and looking for a great site to build a major university and college town, you could easily land right on College Park. It is next to the nation’s capital, less than 10 miles from the White House. The wealth of federal agencies in the surrounding area presents remarkable opportunities for jobs, partnerships and asset sharing to the benefit of our students, state and nation. Besides being the center of government, the capital is an international center with an abundance of cultural institutions, professional associations and national academies. This 1,200-acre campus site is at the junction of Interstate 95 and the Washington Beltway, is on the Washington Metro line and even has its own airport! Transportation doesn’t get better than this. Our region’s population is among the best educated and wealthiest in the nation, and the university’s value in this knowledge economy has never been higher.

And now we are presented with the opportunity to imagine the futures of this great university and the surrounding communities evolving hand-in-hand. As you read elsewhere in this issue, Doug Duncan, former three-term county executive for Montgomery County, has joined our team as vice president for administrative affairs. Doug built partnerships, supported the environment and took on the challenges facing education, economic development and fiscal management with great passion while county executive. I am indeed lucky to have Doug join my leadership team just as we are creating the East Campus development that will influence substantially the future of our campus and region.

The developer selected for the 38-acre site, located at the corner of Route 1 and Paint Branch Parkway, is a joint venture between the Foulger-Pratt Companies and Argo Investment Company. East Campus will directly connect the university to the Metro and portends further developments along Route 1. We envision East Campus serving the needs of a world-class university including M Square—the University of Maryland’s research park, and the City of College Park. We are fortunate that these same developers worked with Doug earlier during the revitalization of downtown Silver Spring, an urban renewal success story.

The East Campus site holds promise for a transformation that will benefit the city, the community, the university and other stakeholders. Community input is sought on issues that need to be addressed during the formulation of the plans. In general terms, we are looking at a mix of retail establishments, a hotel, restaurants, graduate student and family housing, as well as expanded partnerships for university research. The plan that emerges will result from a collaborative process that engages all parties.

Over time, the East Campus will develop its own identity and be recognized for it. Doug understands the complex issues around developments like this and he will also leverage the resources we have placed in safety and security in ways that further benefit the campus community and the City of College Park.

Looking beyond these university efforts, we can see multiple projects blossoming along the Route 1 corridor, from the upscale housing near IKEA to the flourishing Arts District project in Hyattsville—visible evidence of the revitalization of the entire area. Just as this is the ideal site for a research university so too will this become the ideal site for those who live, work and visit the College Park community.    –Dan Mote, President

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