East Campus developers solicit input from the community

Architecture, unique retail among project suggestions

‘‘It’s a huge improvement over what already exists,” said student body president Jonathan Sachs. ‘‘My father went to Maryland and he was describing how the stores are different but the infrastructure is still very much the same. It will bring a huge revitalization to the area.”

East Campus is a $900 million project that will span 38 acres over the eastern edge of campus and extend all the way to the College Park-University Park border.

The university held an open house on East Campus on June 19, which featured details and outlines of the project. Residents were given an opportunity to ask questions to university representatives and the project’s developers, Foulger-Pratt and Argo.

‘‘I’m very impressed with all the renderings,” said Adelphi resident and university alumnus Ib Keita. ‘‘It’s going to attract people to the College Park community. Even though the university already encompasses people from all over the world, it’s going to attract more people.”

Sachs said he is hoping that the school maintains an effort to keep East Campus as unique as possible to avoid becoming too similar to other town centers in the area, like downtown Silver Spring.

‘‘The original Ledo’s is supposedly coming in here,” he said. ‘‘They are also putting in some upscale restaurants which will be good.”

UMD alumnus Mark Wakefield, who now works for the UMD School of Music, said the developers have an opportunity to set East Campus apart from other town centers with the type of retail brought in.

‘‘I hope that they’re more community-based stores and not chain retailers,” he said. ‘‘I hope there’s some unique aspect that makes it local and not just another downtown Silver Spring. It serves a certain purpose to have some of that.”

Wakefield also said he was disappointed in the architecture of the residential buildings, hoping for a more eye-catching design.

‘‘I’m noticing a lot of the apartments look pretty bland and ‘prison-esque’,” he said. ‘‘I was hoping for more inventive and unique architecture.”

Douglas M. Duncan, UMD vice president of administrative affairs, said the developers have been very open to feedback from both the public and the university in the early stages of the project.

‘‘The public needs to know what they’re going to get and they need to accept that,” he said. ‘‘It’s the most important part of what we want to do. We’ve still got a long way to go but the developers have been very responsive in terms of architecture comments and comments of the environment council.”

As the project moves forward, Sachs said that it’s important for students to weigh in with their opinions.

‘‘The university has been very accommodating in seeking student input on those types of things,” he said. ‘‘The grocery store is the first example. They really want to hear what we want to see.”