Monroe Campus dream a reality

Envision a campus re-engineered – literally.

Start with Monroe Park. Instead of paved surfaces that crisscross the park, picture a lawn bound by brick pathways.

Take the fountain at the park’s center and place it two blocks east, directly across from the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. Then surround the park with additional academic buildings, dormitories, student service centers and parking facilities. Add a college street lined with shops, restaurants and more student housing for good measure.

Such a plan must be a dream.

Guess again.

Brian Ohlinger, associate vice president for facilities management, in early April told the Academic Campus Student Senate that as the university completes the update of its 1996 master-site plan, a number of changes would accommodate VCU’s growth in student population.

“While we’ve seen a large impact in our increasing student enrollment, we are simply keeping up with that (growth) with our facilities” that will be built in the next five to 15 years, Ohlinger said.

President Eugene Trani also in April told the Faculty Senate that the planning began in early 2002, four years before the plan was due for its 10-year update. The new master-site plan ties into the third phase of the university’s strategic plan, which Trani said he would “unleash” during the 2004-2005 academic year.

“Under the best of scenarios, the (new) business school (building) would open in the fall of 2008, and the rest of the dominoes would fall into place,” he said. “Keep in mind this project will probably reach until 2020.”

Trani cited the changes in the student population that show a marked increase in the number of traditional college-aged students as the rationale for many of the update’s features.

The impetus for all these changes: the Monroe Campus.

“When the School of Business goes down to the Monroe Campus (bound by Belvidere, Main, Canal and Adams streets),” Trani said, “the Business Building will go to the School of Education and the School of Social Work” following renovations.

With the move also comes a new name for the Academic Campus, he said.

“I am going to change the name of the Academic Campus,” he said. “It’s a disgusting name. It’s either the Monroe Campus or the Monroe Park Campus – Take your pick.”

Ohlinger said the name change indicates the university’s intent to position Monroe Park as a center of campus activity.

The name change accompanies drastic renovations to the park, which served as a Confederate campground during the Civil War and is now home to a number of historic monuments. The pavement running through the park will be replaced with grass and brick. The park fountain, long hidden within the park’s expansive interior, will move to its forefront directly across the street from the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart.

In the update, VCU continues its pace of new construction that includes:

Some older buildings also will receive facelifts.

The moves of the business, engineering, education and social work schools mean complete renovations for Oliver Hall’s education wing and the Business Building along with a newly built Business Building Auditorium, Trani said.

Rhoads Hall also will be scheduled for renovation to complement the new residence hall built in the space vacated by the demolition of the Franklin Street Gymnasium, Trani said.

That complex, combined with planned townhouse-style houses that line Grace Street from Shafer to Laurel streets, places the center of on-campus housing at Franklin and Grace streets – an area that administrators say will become VCU’s center of college life.

“(Grace Street) will become a college street,” lined with housing and privately owned stores and restaurants, Ohlinger said.

But will already-scarce green space be lost to the new construction and renovation?

VCU administrators say no.

The addition of green space is a theme in the new master site plan, Trani said, while Ohlinger said the plan includes more courtyards, plazas and other grassy areas.

The model for such areas?

The courtyard bounded by Oliver Hall and the Eugene P. and Lois E. Trani Center for Life Sciences.

“We’ve all been struck by the courtyard in the Life Sciences building and are looking to do that elsewhere,” Trani said, pointing out that the campus’ urban landscape would otherwise remain unchanged.

“We’re not going to close streets wholesale. We’re putting green space where we can and are focusing on using Monroe Park.”