University weighs expansion options

More than two years after the University purchased 90 acres of land across Route 1, the administration has yet to develop a longterm plan for its use. The land remains an "alternative" in the case that the University outgrows its current campus, administrators said.

"There's no plan to utilize those properties within the foreseeable future. There's only a desire to think about alternatives," Thomas Wright '68, University vice president and secretary, said.

The purchase of the so-called Sarnoff property originally fueled speculation that housing or academic buildings might someday be added across the lake because the University also owns the West Windsor fields directly across Lake Carnegie.

But Wright stressed that the University has not made any such decisions.

If the University decides it does need the use of the land otherwise, Jon Hlafter '61 said it would be more likely used for student housing than for academic buildings. Hlfater is the University's director of physical planning.

"It's hard for the administration to imagine how academic departments could successfully move across Lake Carnegie," he said.

University trustee emeritus Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk '72, who formerly chaired the Trustees' Committee on Grounds and Buildings, said the University probably "will engage [the land] before too long, because it's obvious that [the current campus side of the lake has] been filling up." President Tilghman met informally with several architects during the 2002-03 academic year to discuss the University's future plans, Wright said, and addressed possible use of the space.

The master plan that guided the University through the period of prosperous development in the 1990s is "largely built out," Hlafter said.

Wright said no consensus has been reached about whether a new master plan is a good idea.

Hlafter also said no decisions have been made regarding what to do with the properties.

An addition beyond the lake would break the general rule that all of campus should be within a ten minute walk of Frist Campus Center, Plater-Zyberk said.

"When that move is made, that is beyond the trajectory of the walking campus," she said.

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"The University doesn't want to create a situation that will increase traffic on the roads. We [would] have to think through the possibilities of public transportation," Hlafter said.

Trustee Paul Wythes '55 said the administration's most recent report did not include plans for expanding to the southeast.

"Would everything stay on the current side of the lake? I think the answer is yes," he said.

One of the architects who met with Tilghman was Rafael Viñoly, who designed both Princeton Stadium and the Carl Icahn Laboratory. Viñoly said he expressed his desire to see the project remain largely open space.

"I would propose literally to do nothing on the other side in terms of absorbing the physical plant," he said.

Viñoly suggested the land should be made into something open to the community, like New York City's Central Park. Cultural and aesthetic attractions, like museums and arboretums, would be most appropriate for the space, he said.