A new face for Pace
Big changes are coming to a one-time “commuter college” called Pace via a $100 million to $150 million master plan.
When Pace University opened its Pleasantville campus in the town of Mount Pleasant in 1963 and subsequently acquired a 35-acre Briarcliff property in 1977, the college was, informally, 9 to 5.
Not so anymore, says Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer William McGrath.
“We have about 3,000 students here with close to 1,300 in residence,” McGrath said. “So we”™re about 42 percent residential. The trend in higher education over the last several years has been toward a residential experience.”
The college”™s estimated economic impact per year in the county stands at about $64 million. Pace is the 13th-largest employer in the county. And administrators are banking on the fact that their desire to revitalize and beautify their 200-acre Pleasantville property simply “makes sense” for the school and for the community.
Pace University has submitted a master plan to the Mount Pleasant Planning Board outlining details for the consolidation and restructuring of its Pleasantville campus ”“ an approximately $100 million to $150 million project.
The plan calls for the closure and selling of the Briarcliff campus, which currently houses 590 students and additional administrative staff members.
That property is now zoned for residential usage with a special use permit for education, which would carry over to new ownership.
“The property is directly adjacent to the Trump golf course and he had expressed interest in it to be used as a parking lot, which doesn”™t make sense, so we have it on the market for others,” McGrath said. “We need to get this plan approved and get the construction of these residence halls done before we move students out. We can”™t sell Briarcliff before we complete this project.”
From start to finish, Pace University is looking at an approximately 12-18 month regulatory review process; a two-year construction phase and an opening of fall 2015 if all goes as planned.
Last week, the master plan and three zoning text amendments were presented to the town planning board.
“We”™re concerned about traffic and congestion, but it appears with the students living on campus, we might actually see less traffic,” said Town of Mount Pleasant Supervisor Joan Maybury. “If you see how (the plan) is configured, it”™s an exciting upgrade to the campus to be honest.”
It”™s estimated the busses that shuttle students 2.5 miles from Briarcliff to Pleasantville make about 3,000 trips annually. That would be eliminated.
Among the zoning amendments requested were changes to the height of the dormitories, frontage issues and some banking of parking spaces, Maybury noted.
“We asked (the town) to begin the process to become the lead agency for SEQRA review,” said Andrew Tung, partner at Divney Tung Schwalbe, project engineers. “They had done an extensive review almost 10 years ago on an earlier master plan and we plan to look at many of the same issues that were brought up during that time.” (SEQRA is the state environmental review process.)
If approved, the entire face of the campus will change.
“We want to transform this campus to one that is centered around roads and parking and vehicles to one that is more centered around pedestrian pathways,” McGrath said.
There are currently 2,000 parking spaces, which will be moved to the perimeter of the campus where a 115-acre wooded buffer separates the school from the surrounding community.
Three new residence halls will be constructed to accommodate the loss of beds in Briarcliff. The number of beds on Pleasantville will increase from 690 to 1,400.
Other master plan highlights include: an expanded Kessel Student Center; a new Welcome Center with parking, a renovation of Marks Hall and North Hall for faculty and administrative offices, a new multipurpose athletic field with artificial turf and surrounding track, a new field house, a new entrance at the West entry that will provide access to west and east sides of campus, a center campus green, a renovation of Martin Hall and a relocation of the Environmental Center building with added nature paths.
The school recently acquired a two-acre lot for $1.8 million from Masters Vineyard Church, which will be replaced by a softball field and additional parking.
Pace recently wrapped up an $8 million renovation to its science labs in Dyson Hall to accommodate one of its fastest-growing majors.
The work at Pleasantville is part of the university”™s strategic plan for 2010-2014.
“We see the long-term benefit of having a beautiful, competitive campus in the center of the county, but it”™s very aligned with the county executive”™s vision of Westchester County being the intellectual capital of the state,” McGrath said. “It is something that is good for economic development.”