Officials propose GS housing expansion

University officials will present a proposal to the Princeton Regional Planning Board to expand the Lawrence Apartments, a graduate-student housing development off Alexander Street, at the board's meeting today.

Representatives from Springdale Golf Club will also attend and plan to present a related plan to build a new clubhouse.

The University proposes to add approximately 175 housing units to the apartment development, said Thomas Wright '62, University vice president and secretary. Under the plan, half the additional units would be available by the fall of 2003. The other half would become available a year later, he said.

"The local housing market is very tight," Wright said. This difficulty in finding affordable housing in Princeton Borough and Princeton Township was an important factor in the decision to attempt to provide additional housing for graduate and post-doctoral students.

Today's meeting is a preliminary site plan review. Further meetings must be held before the University can obtain final approval, he said.

Director of Physical Planning Jon Hlafter '61 said the planning board asked the University several years ago to investigate possible ways to provide additional housing to non-undergraduates.

The University's proposal to expand the Lawrence Apartments comes partly a result of that request, Hlafter said.

Wright said the University understands that graduate students' need for apartments puts pressure on the local housing market.

"The building of these units is intended to help relieve that pressure," he said.

Dean of the Graduate School John Wilson said the school has actively supported the plan. The number of graduate students living in University-owned housing is nearly 80 percent, a remarkably high number, he said.

Wilson added that further construction was still necessary to adequately serve the housing needs of all graduate students.

Providing such housing is "an important part of attracting stronger students to our programs," Wilson said.

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He noted that other major universities in high-rent areas, such as Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have recently increased housing for graduate students.

Unlike the plan for Whitman College to accommodate an increase in the undergraduate student body, the University's proposal to expand graduate student housing does not mean that the number of graduate students will also increase, he said.

"We've worked very hard to keep the numbers [of graduate students] in line in large part because of this housing crunch," he said.

The University's proposal also involves a reconfiguration of the golf course, which the University owns, Wright said. Two holes and a driving range will be moved if the construction proceeds.

The golf club's proposal for a new clubhouse near the Lawrence Apartments aims to replace its current clubhouse on College Road, Wright said, adding that the club would cover the full cost of this construction.