MELISSA LEE / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Wednesday, November 8, 2006 6:00 pm
It is 84 pages long — single spaced. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Physical Master Plan, to be sure, is not for the faint of heart. Nor is it for the curious reader hunting for hints UNL has plans on paper to acquire and build on State Fair Park.
For in those 84 pages — the maps, charts and lists the NU Board of Regents approved in April that outline UNL’s goals for physical growth by the year 2015 — the only mention State Fair Park gets is this:
“An update of the master plan for State Fair Park is anticipated in the near future. The chancellor of UNL sits on the State Fair Board and will be involved in future planning efforts.”
That small mention seems a surprise, given headlines about a recently revealed coalition of local business leaders who say that for UNL to progress, the fair must move from its historic downtown spot to 84th Street and Havelock Avenue.
Key to the 2015 Visioning Group’s ambitious plans for giving downtown Lincoln a makeover — plans they’ll pitch to the State Fair Board Friday — is pushing UNL’s boundaries northward.
So why were the fairgrounds left out of the campus master plan?
Simple, university leaders say. When they started crafting the plan two years ago, State Fair Park just wasn’t in consideration.
“It wasn’t an idea at that point,” Chancellor Harvey Perlman said. “It’s merely an idea at this point.
“We’re not going to be so presumptuous as to incorporate land into our physical plan that we don’t have yet.”
Yet Perlman has a dream for UNL, and he acknowledges fulfilling it could be linked to acquiring State Fair Park should it become available.
The dream, as proposed in his September State of the University address: a Nebraska Innovation Center, a sweeping corridor of research and commercial activity that would stretch along Vine Street on the eastern edge of City Campus and perhaps beyond.
The Innovation Center would include the Beadle Center, built in 1995; the former Whittier Junior High School building at 22nd and Vine; and the former Cushman plant site at 22nd and Y. The last two are owned by the NU Foundation but remain unoccupied by the university.
Ultimately, Perlman and others envision a mini research campus that would allow UNL to collaborate more strongly with the private and commercial sectors, and, Perlman says, take the university to a higher level of achievement.
“Right now the momentum is in research,” he said. “It’s an urgent priority.”
Acquiring State Fair Park would provide an additional 251 acres of research, classroom, office and recreational space Perlman believes the university is desperate for.
But he says he’s taking things one step at a time.
He won’t push the idea of building on the fairgrounds unless the State Fair Board decides relocating is in the fair’s best interest, he says.
For now, he’ll focus on property UNL already owns.
The Cushman site, purchased in 2003, won’t be available for construction until 2012 at best — after the Antelope Valley Project is finished — but Whittier is ready now, awaiting major renovations that Perlman says would convert it into a hotbed of research.
This is not the first time UNL has hoped to start work on Whittier. Ever since the NU Foundation bought it in 1983, community leaders have struggled to decide what to do with the 83-year-old, three-story building.
It’s largely been used for storage, but university officials have discussed using it for business offices, engineering research and even housing for married students. None of those ideas has panned out, thanks to a lack of funding needed to equip Whittier — which is mostly in a state of disrepair — to support significant activity.
Overhauling the building now would cost $15 million, Perlman said. That includes a new roof, windows, heating and central air.
Where those funds would come from isn’t known, though Perlman is hopeful private sources will come through.
But he insists Whittier is a historically significant building that deserves a better fate.
“I hope to start (renovating) tomorrow,” he said. “But that’s just not possible.”
The 2015 Visioning Group, too, is looking to the private sector to help fund its goals, though group members say they haven’t yet put a price tag on their plans.
They are convinced, though, that UNL is the state’s key economic engine, churning out top-notch research and bright young minds they fear Nebraska will lose if university growth stalls.
Should UNL fail to move forward, they say, the best faculty and students will flee.
“You’re blocking UNL if you don’t move State Fair Park,” said Terry Fairfield, a Visioning Group member and CEO of the NU Foundation.
“Lincoln is ready for this… The time is right.”
Fairfield is the Visioning Group’s only NU representative, though Perlman has often been involved in the group’s discussions. No regents or any other elected officials are involved at this point, members say.
Prem Paul, UNL’s vice chancellor for research, is one who’s eager to implement plans for campus expansion.
In a recent 45-minute conversation, Paul dropped a dozen references to his army of researchers’ pressing need for space.
Last fiscal year, UNL researchers for the first time raked in more than $100 million in grants. But, Paul says, further success depends on physical growth.
Scientists are elbow-to-elbow in the Beadle Center, and Paul is more than ready to set up shop in Whittier, which he predicts will house transportation and energy research centers.
“Now, we’re saturated,” he said. “Beadle is busting at the seams. We don’t have enough space; we don’t have the core facilities.
“If we don’t solve it, we’re in danger of losing people, losing funding.”
Already, Paul said, some faculty have found themselves unable to apply for grants because their lack of space essentially renders them ineligible.
When that happens, Nebraska misses opportunities to draw in top researchers, retain graduates, generate jobs and spur the economy, he said. And that makes him cringe.
“It is a golden time,” he said. “Research is the future of our state.
“But the problem is, again, we need space.”
Even if State Fair Park doesn’t become available to UNL, the campus master plan still includes ambitious plans for research.
The plan targets 20 possible sites for research or academic buildings — 10 on City Campus, 10 on East Campus.
Those sites include the recreation field west of Othmer Hall on City Campus and the areas east of Chase Hall and north of the East Union on East Campus.
“Research was one of our top priorities, obviously,” said Jennifer Dam, a campus planner who headed up the master plan efforts.
The plan also calls for renovation of Burr and Fedde residential halls on East Campus, but does not include plans for any additional student housing.
That may change, Perlman said, given UNL’s recent housing crunch and modern students’ preference for apartment-style living like the recently opened Husker Courtyards and Husker Village.
But right now, Perlman prefers to zero in on his No. 1 priority: Whittier.
If the building is renovated, he said, it will provide relief to the researchers packed inside Beadle. But he fears that relief will be temporary.
So the university must continue to look forward, he said.
“There’s no limit to our needs.”
Reach Melissa Lee at 473-2682 or mlee@journalstar.com.