Facilities Funding Thaws? Really?

"Frozen capital markets had a chilling effect on new construction in 2009. But, some resources are still flowing, with developer-financed housing projects, bundled mixed-use facilities, and other creative deals on the rise" is how Business Officer describes this new article by Roger Bruszewski, Sam Jung, and Jeffrey Turner. It's a good resource with lots of brief vignettes, and includes some nice photographs as well as informative side bars.

Due to the changes in the financial market, funding options that worked only a few years ago are simply not possible in today's environment. But, the freeze in some funding areas has created new, unique development structures that allow for freer flow of dollars that make such projects attractive and beneficial to institutions.

Despite these changes, it is clear that institutions will continue to rely on the private sector to meet some of their important capital project needs. While private partners have also been affected by the downturn in the economy, they remain committed to working with institutions that must move their mission-critical projects forward both effectively and efficiently. The ingenuity of the private sector will continue to help colleges grow and adapt to changes in the higher education marketplace for years to come.

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Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring:

• March 14–16: Baltimore, MD
• March 24–26: Cambridge, MA
• April 5–7, San Diego, CA

An Arts Program's Move to Troubled Vancouver Neighborhood

Architects get LUs for the AIA at SCUP–45.

Simon Fraser University (SFU) is moving its School for Contemporary Arts into Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, which is apparently not considered a particularly good or safe neighborhood. Here's a link to a Globe and Mail article by Marsha Lederman.

And here is SFU's information page on the project, which includes a visual tour.

From Lederman:

SFU Woodward's is part of a revolutionary mixed-use experiment on the site of a once-iconic department store in the Downtown Eastside. The new Woodward's encompasses luxury condominiums, social housing, retail and office space (among the future tenants: the National Film Board and the city's cultural-affairs offices) as well as Simon Fraser University's School for the Contemporary Arts and the exhibition and creation spaces that will be part of that.

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Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring:

• March 14–16: Baltimore, MD
• March 24–26: Cambridge, MA
• April 5–7, San Diego, CA

Corporate Connections to University Research

Just how do some of those private/public partnerships with corporations work? This is an interview with Texas Instruments CEO Rich Templeton:

Q: TI donates to the universities, and they give you products? Is it that simple?

A: No, not anywhere near as simple. There's no product development going on between ourselves and universities. They have people who dream of what can be done or what may be possible. They also have a powerful capability to assemble multidisciplinary teams. In medical technology, they can get electrical engineers, computer scientists, biologists, chemists and people from the med schools in the same room.

Baby Boomers, Back to Campus . . . To Live

Lots of case studies in this article by Jean Marie Angelo, including some stories of things that didn't work out:

Real estate developers and higher ed administrators now are banking on the hope that this age group, now ages 43 to 61, wants to come back to campus - only this time they won't be rushing fraternities or leading protest marches. They will have plenty of comfortable living space, great rooms for entertaining, special studios onsite for art and writing projects, conference rooms for taking classes, and field trips to nearby museums. Special on-campus communities designed just for them will make this easy.