Temple University is to roll out a master plan Friday
that calls for a new library, an interdisciplinary science building, and a full
city block of green space - more than the urban campus has had.
"I'd have to say never," James W. Hilty,
retired Temple campus historian, said when asked whether the university had
ever had an entire block for an academic quadrangle.
One amenity not in the plan is a football stadium,
despite speculation that Temple was considering Geasey Field, where the band
and the track, field hockey, and lacrosse teams practice, as a potential site.
"We're not there yet," said James P. Creedon,
Temple senior vice president for construction, facilities, and operations.
The 186-page document, 18 months in the making, does not
extend the 37,000-student university's reach further into its North
Philadelphia neighborhood, with the exception of the former William Penn High
School site, which was previously annexed.
In recent years, Temple has faced community friction over
its expansions, such as the building of its school of medicine and most
recently its purchase of William Penn.
"All of our plan," Creedon said, "stays in
our currently owned footprint."
The university's previous master plan, Temple 20/20, also
envisioned staying within its borders, but building vertically. Creedon said
the university would proceed cautiously on that front, as well.
"We're going to push out to the edges a little
bit," he said, referring to the new interdisciplinary science building
considered for 12th and Norris Streets. "But we want to be careful on
scale. We don't want to tower 15 stories over the neighborhood."
The plan was scheduled to be posted Friday morning on the
university's visualize.temple.edu website so students, faculty, community
members, city leaders, and others could comment.
Community and town hall meetings are being scheduled. An
updated plan incorporating neighborhood input will be considered for final
approval by the board of trustees in December, Creedon said.
More than 3,000 people made suggestions on the
university's website for the plan, he said.
"The plan is quite sensible in . . . maximizing the
benefits that can be derived from existing construction in order to minimize
the need for new construction," said Mark C. Rahdert, a law professor and
past president of the faculty senate.
He also endorses plans for the new $190 million library
that will rise at the current site of Barton Hall, between Liacouras Walk and
13th Street in the center of campus. Temple's previous master plan called for a
new library west of Broad Street.
"That would have separated it from most of the
academic buildings," Rahdert said.
The library, which will be built with $140 million in
state aid and $50 million in university money, is to be completed within the
first five years of the 15-year plan. The new structure will include a
"robotic text-retrieval system" in which students order a book online
and a robot goes into the stacks to get it.
The Paley Library will remain, but it will become a
welcome center, with a cafe, classrooms, and gathering spaces.
Some projects are already funded, Creedon said. In
addition to state support, the university will rely on fund-raising and its
general budget.
The proposed central green has students excited, said
senior Raymond Smeriglio, 21, student body president. Currently, the
university's largest open space is near the Bell Tower and is about a quarter
of a block by three quarters of a block, Creedon said.
"It's showing that the university is recognizing
what students love and what students need and expanding on that," said
Smeriglio, a strategic communications major from Camp Hill.
But students will have to wait a bit.
The new space, bounded by 13th Street, Polett Walk, 12th
Street, and Norris Street, likely won't be ready until year six or seven,
Creedon said. It will be bordered by the new library to the west, Paley to the
south, the newly opened Science Education and Research Center to the east, and
the Tyler School of Art to the north.
The project hinges on the demolition of Beury Hall and
the Biology-Life Sciences Building and construction of a new interdisciplinary
science building, he said.
Though the proposal would give the campus its first
substantial large outdoor gathering space, it's likely to generate some debate,
given the limited available real estate on campus.
Though not recommending a football stadium, the plan
recognizes the need for additional recreational space, Creedon said. The
university envisions using the William Penn site for softball, rugby, and
soccer. Geasey Field, at Norris and 15th Streets, also will continue to serve
recreational needs.
Much more planning and logistics are needed before a
recommendation can be made for a stadium, Creedon said. University officials
including president Neil D. Theobald have acknowledged they were looking for
sites because of contentious negotiations with Lincoln Financial Field, which
the university currently rents for football games.
"There's an awful lot of work that has to go into
that," Creedon said.
Under the plan, several buildings would get upgrades
within the first five years, including a six-floor, $11.5 million renovation of
Wachman Hall, and improvements at Gladfelter and Anderson Halls.
An expansion of the College of Engineering and a new home
for the College of Public Health, currently housed in several buildings, also
would be undertaken within the first five years. The new public health building
is envisioned for Cecil B. Moore Avenue and 12th Street.
The plan also addresses Temple's branch campuses. Its
185-acre Ambler campus, for example, would grow and consolidate operations from
Temple Fort Washington.
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