View Counterpoint Article:
Welcome to the University of ... Lee Road?
I've figured out UB's big mistake. It wasn't where they built the campus. It's how they built it.
North Campus is a factory. It has no grand buildings. No community feeling. No central gathering spaces. No heart. No soul. It's the Tin Man of college campuses. Many schools are great because of their campuses. UB is great in spite of it.
Yet North Campus is not beyond redemption. With the Lee Road project, we finally have the opportunity to build a campus that is commensurate with the potential of this university.
We need to build Lee Road for two main reasons. First, we must satisfy the pent-up demand for housing, shopping, quality dining and recreation on North Campus.
Second, we must create a true community center at UB - a beautifully designed area that will attract the best students and bring all of us together.
It is often said - incorrectly - that Lee Road will siphon students away from Buffalo, hurting the region. As a Buffalo native who bleeds Bills blue (and who still bleeds Sabres blue and gold), I'd never support anything that would hurt the city.
I've lived on North Campus, and I know Lee Road won't take away from Buffalo because nothing currently satisfies the demands driving the project: consumer demand and the demand for community space.
Students don't shop on Elmwood because there are no stores on North. They don't shop at all. Students don't eat at Amy's Place because there are no restaurants on North. They stay in their rooms or go to the dining halls.
And students don't gather together on campus because there are so few places to do it. Sounds like a low quality of life to me.
We need to build Lee Road because it would satisfy that private-market demand for retail and housing while providing a truly beautiful context for the serendipitous encounters that make the college years memorable.
And how about this: instead of shouting down Lee Road in the name of preserving Buffalo, let's build Lee Road and also invest and build in the University Heights, where there will continue to be a demand for student housing because of its alternative atmosphere and enticing rent scale.
The on-campus housing construction of the past seven years has been one of the best things to happen to UB. The level of community on campus is increasing; student apathy is dropping. Academics are getting stronger. And even the sports teams are getting better.
A vibrant, eclectic and beautiful neighborhood along Lake LaSalle would bring it all together.
That's why the project must go forward.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
