At Temple, a central campus green is planned

Temple University is to roll out a master plan Friday that calls for a new library, an interdisciplinary science building, and a full city block of green space - more than the urban campus has had.

"I'd have to say never," James W. Hilty, retired Temple campus historian, said when asked whether the university had ever had an entire block for an academic quadrangle.

One amenity not in the plan is a football stadium, despite speculation that Temple was considering Geasey Field, where the band and the track, field hockey, and lacrosse teams practice, as a potential site.

"We're not there yet," said James P. Creedon, Temple senior vice president for construction, facilities, and operations.

The 186-page document, 18 months in the making, does not extend the 37,000-student university's reach further into its North Philadelphia neighborhood, with the exception of the former William Penn High School site, which was previously annexed.

In recent years, Temple has faced community friction over its expansions, such as the building of its school of medicine and most recently its purchase of William Penn.

"All of our plan," Creedon said, "stays in our currently owned footprint."

The university's previous master plan, Temple 20/20, also envisioned staying within its borders, but building vertically. Creedon said the university would proceed cautiously on that front, as well.

"We're going to push out to the edges a little bit," he said, referring to the new interdisciplinary science building considered for 12th and Norris Streets. "But we want to be careful on scale. We don't want to tower 15 stories over the neighborhood."

The plan was scheduled to be posted Friday morning on the university's visualize.temple.edu website so students, faculty, community members, city leaders, and others could comment.

Community and town hall meetings are being scheduled. An updated plan incorporating neighborhood input will be considered for final approval by the board of trustees in December, Creedon said.

More than 3,000 people made suggestions on the university's website for the plan, he said.

"The plan is quite sensible in . . . maximizing the benefits that can be derived from existing construction in order to minimize the need for new construction," said Mark C. Rahdert, a law professor and past president of the faculty senate.

He also endorses plans for the new $190 million library that will rise at the current site of Barton Hall, between Liacouras Walk and 13th Street in the center of campus. Temple's previous master plan called for a new library west of Broad Street.

"That would have separated it from most of the academic buildings," Rahdert said.

The library, which will be built with $140 million in state aid and $50 million in university money, is to be completed within the first five years of the 15-year plan. The new structure will include a "robotic text-retrieval system" in which students order a book online and a robot goes into the stacks to get it.

The Paley Library will remain, but it will become a welcome center, with a cafe, classrooms, and gathering spaces.

Some projects are already funded, Creedon said. In addition to state support, the university will rely on fund-raising and its general budget.

The proposed central green has students excited, said senior Raymond Smeriglio, 21, student body president. Currently, the university's largest open space is near the Bell Tower and is about a quarter of a block by three quarters of a block, Creedon said.

"It's showing that the university is recognizing what students love and what students need and expanding on that," said Smeriglio, a strategic communications major from Camp Hill.

But students will have to wait a bit.

The new space, bounded by 13th Street, Polett Walk, 12th Street, and Norris Street, likely won't be ready until year six or seven, Creedon said. It will be bordered by the new library to the west, Paley to the south, the newly opened Science Education and Research Center to the east, and the Tyler School of Art to the north.

The project hinges on the demolition of Beury Hall and the Biology-Life Sciences Building and construction of a new interdisciplinary science building, he said.

Though the proposal would give the campus its first substantial large outdoor gathering space, it's likely to generate some debate, given the limited available real estate on campus.

Though not recommending a football stadium, the plan recognizes the need for additional recreational space, Creedon said. The university envisions using the William Penn site for softball, rugby, and soccer. Geasey Field, at Norris and 15th Streets, also will continue to serve recreational needs.

Much more planning and logistics are needed before a recommendation can be made for a stadium, Creedon said. University officials including president Neil D. Theobald have acknowledged they were looking for sites because of contentious negotiations with Lincoln Financial Field, which the university currently rents for football games.

"There's an awful lot of work that has to go into that," Creedon said.

Under the plan, several buildings would get upgrades within the first five years, including a six-floor, $11.5 million renovation of Wachman Hall, and improvements at Gladfelter and Anderson Halls.

An expansion of the College of Engineering and a new home for the College of Public Health, currently housed in several buildings, also would be undertaken within the first five years. The new public health building is envisioned for Cecil B. Moore Avenue and 12th Street.

The plan also addresses Temple's branch campuses. Its 185-acre Ambler campus, for example, would grow and consolidate operations from Temple Fort Washington.

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