Legislators question fairness of student housing process
Online Exclusive: As RFP deadline passes, representatives promise additional action
Brian Stelter
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An unknown number of bids were submitted in response to the University’s Request for Proposals to build a 400—600 bed facility for students within one mile of campus. The proposals were due Thursday at 2 p.m.
At a community meeting last week, local residents alleged that Heritage Properties, developers of Towson Circle III, had an unfair advantage in the RFP process.
On Monday, representatives of the 42nd legislative district sent a letter to Attorney General Joseph Curran asking for a review and a delay of the RFP process. In a letter on Thursday, Curran said his staff had reviewed the RFP, but that no aspect of it "would tend to favor a particular offeror."
Del. John Trueschler said he and Sen. Jim Brochin would continue to oppose the University’s endeavor to place student housing in Towson.
"It’s not over. There are going to be other things happening," Trueschler told the Greater Towson Council of Community Associations on Thursday. He declined to share specifics, but said action would likely take place early next week.
"We’re going to resist this," he said.
Both Brochin and Trueschler have raised the possibility of restarting the bidding process.
Regent decision changed Circle housing plan
Almost 100 community members crammed the second floor of the Carver Community Center on Thursday, May 12 for a meeting to discuss Towson Circle III and the housing proposal.
When asked why Towson intends to lease housing off-campus, rather than build residence halls on campus, University spokesperson Susanna Craine said "opportunity knocked."
"We’re going to need more and more housing. The growth cycle is upon us," she said.
Baltimore County revitalization director Andrea Van Arsdale told attendees that Towson University, Baltimore County, and Heritage Properties had been in discussions about placing student housing on the Towson Circle III site last year.
"We thought it was going to go there," she said.
But the situation changed last winter when the University System of Maryland Board of Regents required Towson to put the plan through an RFP process, so any developer could submit a proposal for housing.
"Up until that point, nobody knew that we couldn’t be doing it the way we were doing it. We all thought this was okay," she said, stressing the word thought.
Essentially, the University would have leased the residence hall after it was constructed by Heritage. But because of the RFP process, "all bets are off," and Towson could choose another location for housing, Van Arsdale said.
Attorney General Curran’s review of the situation confirmed that Towson and the county "initially considered entering into a non-competitive project with a developer," according to his letter to the legislators.
TU senior vice president and chief fiscal officer David Harnage declined multiple requests for comment this week. But Harnage, who is retiring next month, told the Towson Times that the University talked with "any developer who came to us with ideas for off-campus housing before we decided to activate the RFP process."
Brochin, Trueschler prepare to take action
At the May 12 community meeting, citizens questioned whether the history of the Circle project and the RFP design gave Heritage Properties an advantage over competing developers and alternative sites. Some of the attendees were blunt about it.
"The Towson Circle III project is being favored," Corinne Becker, president of the Riderwood Hills Community Association, said. "[Other developers are] not being favored in the way Heritage is for this project, because this is [County executive] Jim Smith’s baby."
Based on Van Arsdale’s comments, and the reactions from community members, Brochin and the 42nd district’s three delegates drafted the letter to Curran over the weekend.
"I think any other developer who wants to build student housing is at a disadvantage," Brochin said in an interview Thursday.
He said he doesn’t harbor any ill will toward Heritage ("I’m sure they would do a fine job") but wants all developers to have a fair shot.
While Curran found no problems with the RFP process, he assured Brochin and Trueschler that his office will closely monitor the remaining phases of it.
At Thursday’s GTCCA meeting, residents expressed disappointment in Curran’s decision. And the legislators apparently have other strategies up their sleeve.
Trueschler said he and Brochin have provided Curran with "additional information" that "may require the RFP to restart."
"The University has got to help itself by working with the community, not rolling over it," Trueschler said after the GTCCA meeting.
University begins to review proposals
In the midst of the controversy, the deadline to submit proposals has passed. Margaret O’Connell, director of procurement, said she could not divulge how many developers had submitted housing bids, due to the confidentiality of the RFP process.
Observers, including Van Arsdale and county executive Jim Smith, have previously speculated that five or six sites are appropriate locations for the project.
Those sites include the Towson Circle and a property behind the Burkshire Hotel and Conference Center. Becker said the latter site, near the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall on York Road, could be the best site for housing, because of its proximity to campus.
O’Connell’s staff will now begin an RFP review process.
"We have two committees, a financial committee and a technical committee," she said. "Both will be working simultaneously to review, respectively, the financial proposal and the technical proposal. Once that is completed, we will make a recommendation for award."
University administrators and the Board of Regents will review the committee’s recommendation before it is made public.
