D'Youville Expansion: Part 1
Last evening D'Youville College met with the community to introduce and discuss many of the plans that are underway on and around the campus. The topics ranged from parking and campus growth issues to the building of a new 70,000 sq.' classroom building. This is a very exciting time for D'Youville... and if the college plays its cards right, and deals the community a fare hand, the current campus will once again be going through a series of drastic changes.
The meeting started off with the unveiling of the general rendering of Cannon Design's proposal. The seven-storey building would be situated on an existing parking lot located at the corner of Connecticut and Fargo. The design is not yet complete - members of the community were concerned that the first floor was not very conducive to welcoming the neighborhood. When the project initially goes in front of the Planning Board on the 26th, the overall size and design and location will be examined. From there, the community will be meeting with the college to offer input on the details (Harvey Garrett will be leading that effort). The $17-$20 million dollar privately funded classroom building will have a 300 person occupancy. Scheduled completion is set for Spring 2010.
One of the issues that the neighborhood will have to deal with is the loss of a parking lot where the building will be placed. Now normally that would be something to jump up and down about, but it has come to the attention of the community that the college is buying up properties (like 287 Fargo - see below) on healthy streets in order to demolish houses to alleviate parking concerns. That has some of the residents deeply concerned. As the college grows, so does the need for additional land. And as the enrollment grows, so does the need for parking spaces. Residents at the meeting complained that the students were not even using the existing lots because they don't want to fork over money to park there. Instead they park on the street leaving no parking for the residents. With 800 Canadian students and an overwhelming number of long distance commuters, the college is faced with a big parking problem.
Some solutions that were brought up ranged from a parking ramp (that got some boos) to identifying better public transportation incentives. There are 3000 students at the college and only 600 parking spaces. D'Youville already offers its faculty $5000 dollars up front (no strings attached) if they purchase a house on the West Side. Other solutions suggested that the college research finding an additional campus in order to spread its wings. Underground parking would be too expensive... it's an issue that will not be solved overnight. Even though Councilman David Rivera was excited abou the expansion, he said that he was determined to find common ground, and expressed that he was hoping to find a better way to solve the parking problem than destroying the fabric of a healthy street. There is no reason to demolish perfectly good houses, leaving gap-toothed blocks in the name of almighty parking.
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Comment Options
wizardofza
How about D'Youville using some of their money to house students in the immediate neighborhood. Any $$ normally used to demolish perfectly good houses should instead be used to turn those very houses into student apartments. It's quite simple: the more students who live practically next to campus, they less cars will clog up the campus lots and neighborhood street spaces.
I applaud D'Youville for expanding but haven't we learned anything over these past decades? Are we still going to mindlessly destroy our own neighborhoods in the name of easy parking?
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magnum
D'Youville College is another one of Buffalo's often over looked assets. Hats off to them and hopefully they will be successful in their quest to becoming a University.
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Martin
my favorite part of attending schools such as NYU was being able to oversleep and yet still make class in time parking in the lot right next door!
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sbrof
Wiz.. amen.. how many times do we seem to go through this same battle. Something needs to expand.. time to demolish more homes. The area around D'Youville is actually one of the nicest areas of the west side. D'Youville keeps property values stable and the last thing we should do as a city is promote or encourage toe demolition of the very thing we need to sustain ourselves.
Whether it received boos or not, a parking / classroom / dorm? facility is exactly what this college needs. If they are going to build a new building why not incur a small extra percentage into the construction costs and put a few floors of parking.
Truth is this campus is small enough still that a centralized parking facility could connect directly to many of its buildings; it would be more convenient and safe for students to get to and from buildings. I was in a studio with prof. Shibley a couple years back and studied D'Youville pretty thoroughly to come up with an urban design plan for the campus. It involved a centralize square (since the campus has no center / heart. It deserves one. A 4-5 story facility adjacent to the new building on the south side could provide more spaces for parking than all their current lots combined. It would remove the need for more homes to come down and more lots to be built. It would also open up all current lots for expansion of the college removing again another need for homes to come down.
Incorporate some businesses / college necessities into the first floor, maybe some dorms above it and you provide the means for a college to expand in its current footprint.
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Joshua
Instead of D'Youville building a new building, why don't they invest in old Horsefeathers building. #1, It is already built, #2: It is already a part of the fabric of the neighborhood. #3 It will not elimate the parking lot that my father designed and built. Yes, my father expanded on that parking lot and made it work to fit as many cars as possible in a tight spot - I am glad to say.
I would be most in favor of the immediate reuse of the Horsefeathers building for classroom space. Plus there is also some parking next to the building, so if DYC wanted to expand on the building or use it as parking spots it is already readily available.
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mbhxam
Where will people park their bikes?
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MEC
A parking ramp would be far better than 10 surface lots scattered about. With the new ramp designs it could easily blend in with the neighborhood, however, they should keep it to a maximum of 3 levels. The school can build it on a current lot, and this would clearly alleviate street parking which should only benefit residents.
Josh- Are you kidding with using Horsefeathers? While it is a great building, 1) last time I checked, theres no way that building is 70,000 SQ F, and 2) there is no way a college could outfit such a building to house state of the art classrooms and facilities to remain competitive with other schools.
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GDC
I'm all for building over a parking lot, BUT not about demolishing a perfectly good house or two for MORE parking. Build Underground parking!
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GDC
And from the view above, the area offers plenty of surface lots even after the new built. So why not build a parking ramp onto one of those?
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comptart_lws
I want to point out that the concept elevation shown at the top of this post, is the side that faces what little parking would remain on the main block of their campus. The Connecticut St. side is less "iconic" with a small corner entrance and some first floor windows that were added as a result of community feedback, at a previous, less-advertised meeting. It's excellent that the building is sited close to the sidewalk on both Fargo and CT and, it seems that the architect (verbally, if not in the rendering) is trying to respect the historic architecture of the area yet, create a modern look. I (cautiously) trust them to do this building "correctly" for the community.
That said, I'm not so trusting about their mission-creep with the surface parking and the college's practice of surounding themselves in asphalt at the sacrifice of stable blocks. Many of the words we heard last night, were the same as we've heard in the past. Assurances that they would "consider" but, net effect: demolished houses on blocks that the community opposed. One has to wonder how the 2008 outcome will be any different. Newcomers to the process want to believe it'll be different this time and I hope they are correct. The college can change the mis-trust — by acting responsibly, working with the community and holding off demolition / purchasing until a Master Plan is unveiled and students fully utilize the parking they already have.
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MikeJ
Joshua- I love the idea of the reuse of the Horsefeathers building but it is much too far from campus. Connecticut might be turning around somewhat but I really dont see it (I live off of Connecticut). Everyday I drive down it I see drug deals right on the corners...a sad site indeed. I can't see any student wanting to walk from the Horsefeathers building to campus on a daily basis. Now should the campus really grow down Connecticut, it would be a great asset to the campus.
As far as the parking situation goes, I know it is already bleak so why would a parking garage be out of the question? Why does it get booed when brought up? I realize that it might be too expensive to build and if parking is already too expensive that students dont park there, I'm sure it would go up if a ramp was built. Anyways...I know UB students (I'm one of them) would embrace a parking garage with the moat of parking around the spine on the north campus. If there were five garages and the existing lots had buildings for student housing or more academics...that would be something to be happy about. Go UB2020!
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RonR
You just can't win with these people! The home mentioned above is smack dab in the middle of the campus.
I say allow D'Youville to buy and encourage owners to sell everything South of Vermont, West of Prospect, North of Porter and East of W. Ave. Allow D'Youville to build an urban campus that focuses inward on Fargo, making that section of Fargo a mini college main street.
What I find funny is the same people who bitch out the potential loss of homes for a very small college like D'Youville are the same people who still cry about UB not being in the city. Guess what folks, THIS IS THE REASON WHY THEY ARE IN AMHERST. No way could you have grown UB to the size and scope it is today when people are complaining about a buying up homes on "healthy streets" for expansion. Give the owners a good chunk of change to move. They could take the money, which could be much more then market value, and rehab another basic home in the same area. Making a nice chunk of change along the way.
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Joshua
Mike - If there are problems, possibly DYC needs to step up the security. Instead of having, or an addition to having a campus security company, maybe they need 2-3 campus police officers to patrol the campus. Similar to what Canisius has.
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hamp
I think it's great that D'Youville is investing in their campus.
But they're missing a great opportunity to create a classic looking campus that both fits in the neighborhood and respects the original D'Youville buildings.
The Cannon building, in its preliminary design, looks pretty dull. How about some more brick and getting rid of the ribbon windows for starters? Think ivy, not concrete.
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comptart_lws
RonR: when the house was built, it was certainly NOT and (still isn't) "in the middle of the campus". The campus creeped toward the house, not the other way around. The neighborhood is not in opposition to DYC growth and vitality but, it does want say say in how it happens, as affects the healthy blocks. Not dissimilar from requests in 1994 and 2001. The same 3 players from the college are telling us the same things we heard before. THEY have control over our reason to trust them. Their actions are what matters more than their words.
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RonR
D'Youville has been around since 1908. I doubt the homeowner has been there the same time. Maybe the home.
Buying a home next door to a university comes with the potential of those things expanding. This issue is between the homeowner and homeowners who could sell to the school. IMO, if you live a block away and they are not looking to buy your home, you have no say.
The perception of "rights" by owners in the city is a joke.
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chris69
please reactivate the beltline....but personally I recommend future construction of Dyouville to move the campus to the riverfront on the opposite side of Niagara Street where there is nothing but empty lots and projects.
But no demolition for parking.....unless there is already an empty lot even if its a few blocks away.
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AvaRouge
Robert Moses lives!
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BuffaloNY
Lets see the college can't build a parking ramp and they can't knock down houses they own to build additional parking? It's amazing, this is an asset to the growth of the city. If the college wants to expand (which will benefit the neighborhood) then the people of the neighborhood shouldnt try to block it by complaining about the demolition of some house on Fargo Ave.
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magnum
Joshua, that was a good idea. Most major universities actually patrol the surrounding neighborhoods to appease the current home owners and because the immediate area is filled with students anyways. I think a patrolling security (even one car) would benefit the neighborhood and students.
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RisingDamp666
Hamp nails it on the banal architecture of the new classroom building. Something more inspired needs to happen here. The parking issue is an entirely self-inflicted logjam. If D'Youville can't think out of the box, what message does that send to their students? Who would want to attend a school that sums up its values with surface lots and cheap classrooms? This school needs a broader vision than "lets just keep knocking down houses so our commuter students can park conveniently".
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kirkswan
This is exciting, but D'Y should build a small parking structure to help with the parking problem........dont build more parking lots!!!
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kirkswan
This is exciting, but D'Y should build a small parking structure to help with the parking problem........dont build more parking lots!!!
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Joshua
Don't get me wrong, I went to D'Youville between 2002-2004 and there were car break-ins left and right. I am not acting like I don't know the neighborhood at all, but I haven't spent much time their in a while. I do believe, the neighborhood has gotten better with DYC's help. I do think D'Youville is doing a great job at expanding their campus and marketing efforts.
Just think, D'Youville was on the verge of closing 20+ years ago, enrollment was down, etc... (The year estimate maybe wrong). I also believe Canisius was in the same boat to stay alive and open through state grants. That is why D'Youville is a private college with a Catholic heritage - nothing wrong with that, I'm just saying that DYC, in order to stay open had to accept public funding.
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Andrew
i´m not so happy about the idea of tearing down houses in great shape for parking. this school could be such an asset to the west side if it wanted to be
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