The heavily debated plans for development along Lee Road on North Campus have been put on hold, according to UB officials.
President John Simpson was quick to say he has not entirely canceled the Lee Road project. However, the plans drawn up for under former President William Greiner are off the table until an overall strategy for campus construction is developed, Simpson said.
Since Greiner brought a plan to the drawing board in September 2001, the project, estimated to cost tens of millions of dollars, has lingered in limbo. This week, President John Simpson said he has officially put it on the back burner.
"I'm optimistic towards the future of the campus," he said. "But until the planning process is done, I can't endorse everything. We need an academic plan, and from there we can decide what you need and what you need to support that."
The project, a 50-acre complex modeled on an urban center that would have flanked Lake LaSalle between the Student Union and the Ellicott Complex, would have included student housing, retail stores, a hotel, a restaurant, a conference center, a faculty club, and a mini-supermarket.
Simpson said he's taken the past six months here to think about an overall strategy for campus development. He called upon campus planners to consider integrating a version of Lee Road into such a plan.
"I've been very conversant with this, and I've come away with this conclusion--something like this seems to be in UB's best interest, and I've asked that planners of Lee Road to update assumptions according to reality," Simpson said.
Simpson said the plans he has seen so far for Lee Road are not up to date with the campus's current financial and economic situation.
"It's a very interesting project," Simpson said. "It serves a number of needs that the students and campus need, but it's not just a simple question of making it happen."
Vice President of Student Affairs Dennis Black agreed the blueprints for Lee Road do not meet UB's future needs.
"Lee Road as a project was as designed; it doesn't match with the future," Black said. "Campus needs will change and the world around UB is going to change."
Joseph Krakowiak, director of University Residence Halls and Apartments, recognizes the need for additional student housing and is keeping his options open as to what the best plan of action may be.
"We are awaiting the new president and provost plan, and in the meantime, developing some alternatives to Lee Road," Krakowiak said. "As far as buildings go, it's really too early to tell, and you don't want to put all of your eggs in one basket."
Black said that he thinks Lee Road's window has passed, and the UB community should prepare for a different kind of development.
"We have to watch and see as the current campus comes together, and the needs for the future unfold. If we did it two years ago, it would have been different. Now, it's not going to be Lee Road as we last left it."
