A Raritan River boardwalk? Rutgers plans major campus makeover

[Tango Two]

Rutgers University officials unveiled part of a new physical master plan today that would transform the sprawling New Brunswick-Piscataway campus with dozens of new buildings, roadways and a boardwalk along the Raritan River.

The grand proposal, which is still little more than a wish list for Rutgers, also includes a new dining hall and student center and foot bridge over the Raritan River that would link the College Avenue and Livingston campuses for walkers and bikers.

,
This post was edited on 2/3 7:09 PM by Tango Two

A Raritan River boardwalk?

 

[derleider]

Re: Rutgers to unveil plan for use of land, buildings

Cant wait to see it. The old one had the LIvingston Collegetown idea (so retro in retrospect - garbden aprtments instead of a taller complex) among other things that are no longer in the works.

 

[Korbermeister]

Re: Rutgers to unveil plan for use of land, buildings

Here's the link

Rutgers Physical Master Plan

 

[e5fdny]

Re: Rutgers to unveil plan for use of land, buildings

Originally posted by derleider:
Cant wait to see it. The old one had the LIvingston Collegetown idea (so retro in retrospect - garbden aprtments instead of a taller complex) among other things that are no longer in the works.

I believe one of our regulars already has and said he liked what he saw in it.

 

[RUseaweed]

So demolish Hardenberg, Records Hall, the power plant, Brower Commons, and Records hall to create a green all the way to the Barn?

That's pretty ambitious.

 

[e5fdny]

Originally posted by RUseaweed:


So demolish Hardenberg, Records Hall, the power plant, Brower Commons, and Records hall to create a green all the way to the Barn?

That's pretty ambitious.

And from the looks of the rendering...pretty B1G-ish looking too IMO.

 

[RUKeystone]

Originally posted by e5fdny:

Originally posted by RUseaweed:


So demolish Hardenberg, Records Hall, the power plant, Brower Commons, and Records hall to create a green all the way to the Barn?

That's pretty ambitious.

And from the looks of the rendering...pretty B1G-ish looking too IMO.

That looks incredible and am all for it. Happy they won't tear down my frosh dorm Frelinghuysen.

 

[HPNJRUfan]

From reading the article, it seems the only thing missing is the extra space on this proposed bridge, for the *fingers crossed* eventual construction of a New Brunswick Area LRT (hopefully in my lifetime).

 

[NotInRHouse]

Love these ideas. I lived in Hardenbergh but would much rather have a bridge, new Brower, bus lanes, etc...very nice work.

 

[PeteGiam07]

That's a very large new building all the way to the right.... new dorm?
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[Korbermeister]

Very nice! It looks like they've extended George st thru the property where the RUPD was located and there's a miniature j&j world headquarters building on college ave, near Buccleuch park. I wonder why they've decided not to leave the area where Hardenburg was open, to extend the Commons to the river...
I'd rather not see a boardwalk along the raritan, I'd rather them improve the existing bike path, make it,elevate it higher that rt. 18. And the bridge is in a weird location. I think that it would be more useful located off of Seminary place to cedar lane (as I've stated elsewhere) but if they actually build it I won't complain :)

 

[derleider]

Originally posted by HPNJRUfan:
From reading the article, it seems the only thing missing is the extra space on this proposed bridge, for the *fingers crossed* eventual construction of a New Brunswick Area LRT (hopefully in my lifetime).

I doubt it will ever happen. Among other things - if they can go through with their plan to create dedicated bus lanes through down town, it largely loses it raison d'etre. Back when Route 18 became Metlars and making a left onto Busch could take half an hour, it was a great idea. But Route 18 largely flows smoothly between CA and Busch/Livingston. The main snag now is getting through town.

It would be much cheaper to do separate bus lanes for a mile in downtown than to construct a half a billion dollar light rail system. Plus the bus system would still need to be laid on top of the light rail anyway - at least within campuses (so probably circulators would be needed for CA/NB, C/D, and B/L - just trips between the three sets would be LR.)


Obviously if they ever did do it - they would simply create another bridge (no need to massively overengineer the ped bridge for something that might not happen, nor would you really want the two necessarily right next to each other.)

As for this rendering - its missing the key viewpoint - from George Street. Would the green extend over George Street. Or would the new building replacing Hardenbergh/SAC basically have the same street level frontage as it has now? Also - does the boardwalk connect with the ped bridge? Obviously the bridge would start at a much higher level (Deiner Park).

cant wait to see the full plan when its put out, instead of just this one rendering.
This post was edited on 2/4 8:05 AM by derleider

 

[Waiohine]

So where is the plan? When are we going to be able to see it?

 

[Scarlet16E]

From the looks of the drawing, the boardwalk and pedestrian bridge are the two least important parts of this plan.

The main thrust of it is to demolish Brower, The CA Student Center, Records Hall including the physical plant, The Roost, and Hardenbergh and to construct an attractive new quad with the Barn at one end and a new riverfront building at the other.

 

[RU88]

Does anyone know what is suppose to be built behind the Barn/Gym on the parking lots? Everything in white in the picture is new development, so it appears they are plans to build on the lot.

 

[PeteGiam07]

Originally posted by RU88:
Does anyone know what is suppose to be built behind the Barn/Gym on the parking lots? Everything in white in the picture is new development, so it appears they are plans to build on the lot.

I would assume it to be a parking deck.

 

[bob-loblaw]

There's a lot of takeaways from this rendering.

There's def some takeaways from the original ten architectos college ave plan. The layout is similar, with a different execution. The tear downs are plentiful... Power plant, brower and the big one.... The student center! It definitely creates a dynamic open space for rutgers.

I love the pedestrian bridge. Hopefully it links to the boardwalk , which will prob link to the canal park. Being able to connect those with Johnson park is a coup for students.

It also looks like a six story parking deck is attached to the other building at the end of campus. Great stuff.

 

[Upstream]

Originally posted by bob-loblaw:


It also looks like a six story parking deck is attached to the other building at the end of campus. Great stuff.

Although I am not a fan of 6-story parking decks, I am OK with a parking deck if it leads to elimination of the multiple surface parking lots around campus.

 

[RUKeystone]

Design on College Ave feels like Maryland's main strip in College Park, which I love the idea of.

 

[LadyRU09]

What would they do for dining, housing, and student center stuff while they're demolishing those buildings? Will they tear down and rebuild one at a time? College Ave would probably suck if all three were being reconstructed at the same time.

 

[MoobyCow]

How do you figure out which of the featureless grey boxes is a parking deck of 6 stories?

 

[bob-loblaw]

It looks pretty clear to be a building w a deck attached. Sure looks like six levels of a deck to me

 

[Upstream]

Originally posted by LadyRU09:
What would they do for dining, housing, and student center stuff while they're demolishing those buildings? Will they tear down and rebuild one at a time? College Ave would probably suck if all three were being reconstructed at the same time.

They would pretty much need to build a new dining hall first. Since Brower is the only dining hall on College Ave, they can't tear it down until they have another place for the kids to eat. But they can tear down a dorm first since there is other housing on College Ave (and other campuses) where the kids can sleep while waiting for new dorms to be built.

 

[derleider]

Originally posted by Upstream:

Originally posted by LadyRU09:
What would they do for dining, housing, and student center stuff while they're demolishing those buildings? Will they tear down and rebuild one at a time? College Ave would probably suck if all three were being reconstructed at the same time.

They would pretty much need to build a new dining hall first. Since Brower is the only dining hall on College Ave, they can't tear it down until they have another place for the kids to eat. But they can tear down a dorm first since there is other housing on College Ave (and other campuses) where the kids can sleep while waiting for new dorms to be built.

I would assume that the building on the river will be the dining hall (just a guess - the overlooks would be nice.) That would also allow them to tear down the dorm, build the dining hall. Tear down the dining hall/records hall and build the new quad and buildings lining the quad.

That is unless they plan on replacing the student center with the new dining hall, nad making hte building on the river the new student center.

Who knows. They need to release this whole report already, not just this one image.

 

[HPNJRUfan]

Originally posted by derleider:

Originally posted by HPNJRUfan:
From reading the article, it seems the only thing missing is the extra space on this proposed bridge, for the *fingers crossed* eventual construction of a New Brunswick Area LRT (hopefully in my lifetime).

I doubt it will ever happen. Among other things - if they can go through with their plan to create dedicated bus lanes through down town, it largely loses it raison d'etre. Back when Route 18 became Metlars and making a left onto Busch could take half an hour, it was a great idea. But Route 18 largely flows smoothly between CA and Busch/Livingston. The main snag now is getting through town.

It would be much cheaper to do separate bus lanes for a mile in downtown than to construct a half a billion dollar light rail system. Plus the bus system would still need to be laid on top of the light rail anyway - at least within campuses (so probably circulators would be needed for CA/NB, C/D, and B/L - just trips between the three sets would be LR.)


Obviously if they ever did do it - they would simply create another bridge (no need to massively overengineer the ped bridge for something that might not happen, nor would you really want the two necessarily right next to each other.)

As for this rendering - its missing the key viewpoint - from George Street. Would the green extend over George Street. Or would the new building replacing Hardenbergh/SAC basically have the same street level frontage as it has now? Also - does the boardwalk connect with the ped bridge? Obviously the bridge would start at a much higher level (Deiner Park).

cant wait to see the full plan when its put out, instead of just this one rendering.
This post was edited on 2/4 8:05 AM by derleider

Oh, I agree completely - its a pipe dream. But that doesn't mean I can't dream it!

 

[Scarlet16E]

Originally posted by Upstream:

Originally posted by LadyRU09:
What would they do for dining, housing, and student center stuff while they're demolishing those buildings? Will they tear down and rebuild one at a time? College Ave would probably suck if all three were being reconstructed at the same time.

They would pretty much need to build a new dining hall first. Since Brower is the only dining hall on College Ave, they can't tear it down until they have another place for the kids to eat. But they can tear down a dorm first since there is other housing on College Ave (and other campuses) where the kids can sleep while waiting for new dorms to be built.

I think that this plan actually has a chance of happening. Housing and dining services have their own revenue stream, and construction of new buildings for them makes this much more likely than if it was just about academic buildings.

Kick-start the project by tearing down Hardenbergh and the Ledge and building the new river-facing Dining Hall or Dining Hall + Student Center (This could happen soon - maybe right after the new Honors College is complete. When that's done, proceed to demo the rest of the area and begin building the new quad. Only at that point do funds for potential new buildings on the new quad become necessary. Some of them may be housing, but they may be academic space ???

Can Devco help with some of this ???

 

[sct1111]

Larger Renderings with different angles http://newjersey.news12.com/multimedia/rutgers-university-redesign-1.9905803

Looks great. I know its very early but I hope the architecture it similar to that of the college ave gym. A nice large Rutgers Student Center is very much needed but I'm not in love with the design in these pictures. It also looks like they are adding on to the gym big time with is great. The bridge looks awesome but who knows if that will ever come into fruition.

I'm so glad they are knocking down those particular buildings as I always saw them as an eye sore. This new design will put us near our peers in our conference in terms of campus feel.

 

[Sir ScarletKnight]

Having been at the reveal several months ago, when they were talking about it in Livingston Hall, the boardwalk was/is meant to be a space for both the community and for research and such.

Not quite sure when http://news.rutgers.edu/news-release/rutgers-receives-10-million-donations-name-richard-weeks-hall-engineering-busch-campus/20150202#.VNLxEWjF97F[/URL] will come into play.

They also said that Records hall will probably be the first building to go, that they've already started moving some documents and offices into other spots/finding new places for those departments, along with the smokestack.

I had actually mentioned some of this last month in this thread.

https://rutgers.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=2330&tid=177474481&mid=177474481&sid=988&style=2
This post was edited on 2/4 11:33 PM by Sir ScarletKnight

 

[lawmatt78]

This is a plan that makes a lot of sense to me. It's what should have been proposed years ago.

The rendering below shows a "social green" flanked by a new dining hall, student center, and cultural center.

It looks like there will be parking under the green.

This post was edited on 2/5 2:31 AM by lawmatt78

 

[Waiohine]

It looks to me like one of the components is moving the buses off College Ave to George Street, which would be great for the ambience of CA. Generally, I love the plan. There's none of the ridiculous overreach of the Ten Arcitecturos plan, and it's sensitive to the historic built environment of CA, while getting rid of the junk, including the awfulStudent Center. Also, with the additions to the old seminary land, CA will become more than just a road to walk along. From the Mall to the library, there will be 4 blocks of walkable, green, Georgian-themed campus space. Now release the whole report already.

This post was edited on 2/5 5:11 AM by Waiohine

 

[derleider]

Originally posted by Waiohine:
It looks to me like one of the components is moving the buses off College Ave to George Street, which would be great for the ambience of CA. Generally, I love the plan. There's none of the ridiculous overreach of the Ten Arcitecturos plan, and it's sensitive to the historic built environment of CA, while getting rid of the junk, including the awfulStudent Center. Also, with the additions to the old seminary land, CA will become more than just a road to walk along. From the Mall to the library, there will be 4 blocks of walkable, green, Georgian-themed campus space. Now release the whole report already.

This post was edited on 2/5 5:11 AM by Waiohine

Actually if anything - I see that the Honors College plus this would effectively move the heart of the CA campus away from CA altogether. The Student Center and Dining Hall are currently CA facing - now both would be facing the quad. The Gym would be essentially facing the quad as well. The rest of the campus would largely be focused on the extended Vorhees Mall or the Bishop quad.

Only the Lot 8 complex would really be CA oriented and even that will really be oriented towards its own courtyard.

Major major shift away from the car/bus oriented axis of the post-war era. Basically CA would in fact become even MORE of a road to walk on. In fact - if they are going to move the busses off - it would be a great time to reconsider shutting it down to all traffic - or at least from Huntington to Stone St.
This post was edited on 2/5 7:41 AM by derleider

 

[Leonard23]

I love this plan & hope it gets done. The closeup drawing w/labels doesn't show the L shaped buildings flanking each side of the transit hub which appear in the larger drawing. Any idea what those will be? Dorms? I assume the transit hub is code for underground parking garage & bus stop?
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[derleider]

Originally posted by Sir ScarletKnight:
Having been at the reveal several months ago, when they were talking about it in Livingston Hall, the boardwalk was/is meant to be a space for both the community and for research and such.

Not quite sure when http://news.rutgers.edu/news-release/rutgers-receives-10-million-donations-name-richard-weeks-hall-engineering-busch-campus/20150202#.VNLxEWjF97F[/URL] will come into play.

They also said that Records hall will probably be the first building to go, that they've already started moving some documents and offices into other spots/finding new places for those departments, along with the smokestack.

I had actually mentioned some of this last month in this thread.

https://rutgers.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=2330&tid=177474481&mid=177474481&sid=988&style=2
This post was edited on 2/4 11:33 PM by Sir ScarletKnight

That makes sense. Looking at a current map and the image above - the new Dining Hall will be where Records Hall is now. Build that first, then tear down Brower, Kreeger, Stonier (I assume, its hard to see how that survives, given the plan above) and the little house on the corner and put in the Cultural Center, Cultural Quad, and new classrooms.

While doing both, you dig out the space for the underground garage.

The finally, tear down the parking deck and put in the new student center. Then you can tear down the old student center ad do whatever with it.

On thing is - I hope they do something more interesting than just plain brick with the wall on George Street under the buildings.

 

[roofusgooner]

This plan looks great. It's all kinds of awesome. It looks like they're also tearing down the addition to the College Ave Gym. Does anyone have an idea about what buildings will be where Hardenbergh currently stands?

This post was edited on 2/5 1:52 PM by roofusgooner

 

[derleider]

Originally posted by HPNJRUfan:

Originally posted by derleider:

Originally posted by HPNJRUfan:
From reading the article, it seems the only thing missing is the extra space on this proposed bridge, for the *fingers crossed* eventual construction of a New Brunswick Area LRT (hopefully in my lifetime).

I doubt it will ever happen. Among other things - if they can go through with their plan to create dedicated bus lanes through down town, it largely loses it raison d'etre. Back when Route 18 became Metlars and making a left onto Busch could take half an hour, it was a great idea. But Route 18 largely flows smoothly between CA and Busch/Livingston. The main snag now is getting through town.

It would be much cheaper to do separate bus lanes for a mile in downtown than to construct a half a billion dollar light rail system. Plus the bus system would still need to be laid on top of the light rail anyway - at least within campuses (so probably circulators would be needed for CA/NB, C/D, and B/L - just trips between the three sets would be LR.)


Obviously if they ever did do it - they would simply create another bridge (no need to massively overengineer the ped bridge for something that might not happen, nor would you really want the two necessarily right next to each other.)

As for this rendering - its missing the key viewpoint - from George Street. Would the green extend over George Street. Or would the new building replacing Hardenbergh/SAC basically have the same street level frontage as it has now? Also - does the boardwalk connect with the ped bridge? Obviously the bridge would start at a much higher level (Deiner Park).

cant wait to see the full plan when its put out, instead of just this one rendering.
This post was edited on 2/4 8:05 AM by derleider

Oh, I agree completely - its a pipe dream. But that doesn't mean I can't dream it!

It was always a pipe dream. Im saying at this point, its not even really the best option for RU due to the Route 18 expansion.

 

[Scarlet16E]

For better or worse, I'm guessing the brick wall would match the existing brick wall that runs from Bishop place to this site.

On the chopping block are:
- Hardenbergh
- The Ledge (SAC)
- Records Hall + Physical Plant (Smokestack)
- The Existing CA Parking Deck
- Brower Commons
- The Roost (Learning Resource Center)
- Stonier Hall
- The ROTC house
- The CA Student Center

This plan removes many of the most troubled buildings on the CA campus in one swipe, and replaces them with what appears to be a well designed quad.





This post was edited on 2/5 5:21 PM by Scarlet16E

 

[PeteGiam07]

Originally posted by Waiohine:
It looks to me like one of the components is moving the buses off College Ave to George Street, which would be great for the ambience of CA. Generally, I love the plan. There's none of the ridiculous overreach of the Ten Arcitecturos plan, and it's sensitive to the historic built environment of CA, while getting rid of the junk, including the awfulStudent Center. Also, with the additions to the old seminary land, CA will become more than just a road to walk along. From the Mall to the library, there will be 4 blocks of walkable, green, Georgian-themed campus space. Now release the whole report already.

This post was edited on 2/5 5:11 AM by Waiohine

There is still a call out for "College Ave" on the rendering meaning a road is still in front of the gym. Maybe they will make it smaller or a one-way road but it is still there. A bus can also be seen on another rendering in front of the old student center. ay be too early to tell what the transit system will be like. Happy to see pedestrian overpasses though.

This post was edited on 2/5 2:07 PM by PeteGiam07

 

[Scarlet Pride]

I really liked reading Barchi say that this isn't just a grandiose vision but rather a plan. He believes this can be done and is realistic. I would imagine this will be a huge part of the next major fundraising campaign. A lot of funding will come from bonds and perhaps some direct state support but private funding will be critical. Thankfully as others have stated dining is a revenue stream so that will help.

Now I don't think we should be expecting this to be done in the next 5-10 years. Not saying it won't but I don't think it will. The problem with these master plans is people expect them to start breaking ground quickly. This is a long term plan not an unveiling of a shovel ready project.

And this is just the CA section of the NB campus. The larger document will reveal additional plans for the rest of NB plus Newark and Camden. But I suspect this is most likely priority 1. There may be other individual buildings that are top priority as well but this is the heart of Rutgers and image game changer.

I'm looking forward to seeing the entire document. I'm hoping to find some plans for Fraternity/Sorority housing.





This post was edited on 2/5 2:40 PM by Scarlet Pride

 

[derleider]

Originally posted by Scarlet Pride:
I really liked reading Barchi say that this isn't just a grandiose vision but rather a plan. He believes this can be done and is realistic. I would imagine this will be a huge part of the next major fundraising campaign. A lot of funding will come from bonds and perhaps some direct state support but private funding will be critical. Thankfully as others have stated dining is a revenue stream so that will help.

Now I don't think we should be expecting this to be done in the next 5-10 years. Not saying it won't but I don't think it will. The problem with these master plans is people expect them to start breaking ground quickly. This is a long term plan not an unveiling of a shovel ready project.

And this is just the CA section of the NB campus. The larger document will reveal additional plans for the rest of NB plus Newark and Camden. But I suspect this is most likely priority 1. There may be other individual buildings that are top priority as well but this is the heart of Rutgers and image game changer.

I'm looking forward to seeing the entire document. I'm hoping to find some plans for Fraternity/Sorority housing.





This post was edited on 2/5 2:40 PM by Scarlet Pride

I would love to see them make College Ave a frat row from Lot 8 down to the gym (less of course the church.), but RU seems to have no interest in frats, so I wouldnt expect it. Now that the focus of the entire CA campus is no longer CA itself, it would make sense to turn that into a frat area (prviously I had said I hope they move the frats off of CA - but that was when I expected CA to be the center of campus - and therefore the place to put new academic buildings and such.)

One ting to note as far as actually getting it done - its actually about the same construction as the new Honors College (although more demolition).
This post was edited on 2/5 2:47 PM by derleider

 

[Scarlet16E]

Barchi mentions fundraising, but also "public-private partnership". That sounds like a code word for DEVCO to me.

I wonder if Cofifa can add any insight here?