News | 7/22/05

Only one developer submitted a proposal to provide off-campus housing for Towson students, and the University has deemed that proposal "unacceptable," interim vice president for administration and finance Alan Leberknight said Friday.

"We did not accept any of the proposals, and therefore the RFP dies," Leberknight said.

The sole proposal included three different scenarios, but they "were not acceptable to us because of the impact they had on the debt capacity of the University System of Maryland," he said.

The decision comes three months after the University released Request for Proposals 0542, "Student Housing," for 400 to 600 beds within one mile of campus. Some community groups were stringently opposed to the RFP, and several state lawmakers called on the University to delay the process.

Leberknight said rejecting the proposal was a clear-cut business decision, and said it "had nothing to do with who was for or against it."

The RFP document stressed that the student housing project must have "minimal or no impact" on debt capacity. One or more of the scenarios could have required the University to directly lease the student housing development: "Long-term leases of an entire facility will have more than a minimal effect on debt capacity," the RFP warned.

"Our hope was, by putting out the RFP, that a structure would be presented to us that would have minimal impact on the debt capacity. Unfortunately, what was presented to us was judged by us to have an adverse effect on the debt capacity," Leberknight said.

He explained it this way: "If you or I had a house and we ended up with six kids, and the house wasn't big enough for the six kids, we might want to go buy a new house. But if we don't have any income to buy a new house, we can't do it."

Leberknight declined to identify the developer who submitted the proposal. But community members assumed Heritage Properties submitted the three scenarios. The company received approval from Baltimore County to develop a site called Towson Circle III in December, and sketches of the project included "Towson University student housing." In February a Heritage official said the company would "most likely" submit a proposal.

Lawmakers, including Sen. Jim Brochin, were informed of Towson's decision on Thursday. In May, Brochin and other representatives of the 42nd legislative district asked Attorney General Joseph Curran to delay the RFP, citing an unfair RFP process. Curran declined, and the University's Procurement department continued its review of the proposal that was submitted.

In March the Greater Towson Council of Community Associations passed legislation opposing student housing in downtown Towson. President Judy Gregory said she was relieved by the decision to reject the proposal.

"We are all thrilled that it seems there won't be dorms at the Towson Circle III site," Gregory said, speaking on behalf of the GTCCA. But she sounded cautious, as well.

"We are concerned about what's going to be there" at the circle, she said. Heritage Properties had proposed constructing student housing, a parking garage and a retail complex on the site of a parking lot behind Burger King in downtown Towson.

And she wondered if the RFP process could return in the future

"If [the proposal] gets restructured -- I don't know if that's a viable thing that could happen -- couldn't it go forward?," she asked.

Rejecting the student housing proposal doesn't eliminate the long-term need for additional beds for Towson students.

"Obviously, we're still in a situation where there's a need for housing," Leberknight added. He said the University will need to discuss its residence life options as enrollment grows in the coming years.

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