Soon, Buffalo State students will be able to gaze upon two, brand new state-of-the-art residence halls. The blueprints are ready and according to Cannon Design’s Bill Greeley (cannondesign.com), shovels could be in the ground as early as this fall.
“We had a lot of input from the administration in planning this, and today we’re hoping to get input from students,” Greeley said at a February 10th Q & A held in the Campbell student union.
Preliminary plans have the buildings slated for construction in L-lot, across from Campus West School and Alumni Arena.
Greeley and his associates had easels set up with images of the proposed housing on display for students (or any passers by) to critique on Feb. 10.
The facilities are top-notch. Two four-story “L” shaped buildings that feature apartment-style living will be built facing one another, creating a courtyard in the center. The interior is strongly influenced by the designs Cannon used earlier this decade when the firm produced plans for Canisius College’s Delevan Housing Complex (canisius.edu) on Delevan between Main street and Delaware avenue.
The $50-million project should alleviate the housing concerns that the college has faced in recent years. On campus residents have had to deal with inconveniences ranging from more people sharing a room than expected to being forced to take shelter at a hotel. Over 500 new beds will be available upon the new structures completion.
When questioned on the parking issues that closing the L-lot off to students would create, Greeley stated that a “master parking-plan” was in the works. It does not mean, however, that new parking is going to be created as a replacement.
Dr. Charles Kenyon, associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students said the parking situation is being systematically looked at from a different perspective.
“Right now what we’ve done is we’ve reduced the student demand for parking by creating a restriction on freshmen residence students bringing cars to campus and that restriction is going to extend to freshmen and sophomore residence students,” Kenyon said.
The extension of the parking restriction will go into effect fall semester 2009, Kenyon said.
“We estimate that that will result in a reduction of parking space use that exceeds the loss of parking spaces that the new residence halls will create,” Kenyon said.
Hal Payne, vice president of student affairs, did the math for everyone at a presentation held during the United Students Government meeting on Feb. 24.
The current parking capacity for L-lot is 439 spaces. The restrictions on freshmen and sophomores will save the school 475 spaces. That equals out to a net gain of 36 spaces.
Not all students however are thrilled about the development.
“It’s bad news for commuters,” said Buffalo State junior Kyle Cornelius.
Cornelius is one of the many commuter students that arrive on campus up to 30 minutes early to get a parking spot. He said he has concerns about the inconvenience it will have on him and his fellow commuting students.
“It’s a hassle for us students that commute, but they got to do what they got to do to make the campus better, “ Cornelius said.
President Muriel Howard put it best in her State of the College Address (http://www.buffalostate.edu/president/speeches_2009_college.xml) three weeks ago: “To those who are wondering what the next big will be at Buffalo State, I say ‘Look west.’ We have a long-standing concern for the vitality of our West Side neighborhood.”