The town of Mount Pleasant Planning Board voted recently to approve the site plan for phase 1A of Pace University”™s $100 million construction project.
Groundbreaking is expected in September.
The five-year, multi-phase project should enable Pace to consolidate functions that are now split between campuses in Pleasantville and Briarcliff.
Currently 690 students reside in dorms on the Pleasantville campus and 590 at Briarcliff. The 35-acre Briarcliff campus, which Pace opened in 1977, is for sale.
No classes are now taught in Briarcliff; the plan foresees athletic and administration functions now there heading to Pleasantville.
The unified campus should bring multiple benefits, the school reported, including enhancing the overall quality of student life and eliminating approximately 3,000 annual bus trips that are now required to shuttle students between campuses that are 2.5 miles apart.
The first phase includes new residence halls, expanding and upgrading the student center, relocating and expanding the environmental center, adding new athletic facilities, upgrading existing buildings and infrastructure and improving pedestrian accessibility.
The environmentally-focused plan will incorporate extensive green building designs and technologies. Approximately 60 percent of the 200-acre property on Bedford Road (Route 117) will remain as green space.
The planned improvements should have minimal visible impact on the surrounding area. The 115-acre, on-grounds wooded buffer that wraps around the north, east and southeast portions of the campus will remain undisturbed.
The Pace University Board of Trustees voted to advance the project in May.
“As the Pace University Pleasantville campus prepares to celebrate its 50th Anniversary in September, we prepare for the transformation and revitalization of the campus,” said Pace President Stephen J. Friedman. “The capital improvements in Pleasantville, together with new academic programs and related enhancements, represent a significant investment in and commitment to the future of the Pleasantville campus.”
Pace is Westchester”™s 13th largest employer. Some 18,400 Pace alumni live in the county with 1,900 residing in Mount Pleasant. It also maintains a Manhattan campus, educating a total 13,000 students in both venues.
