Insisting on East Campus Quality
October 11th, 2006 | by David Daddio | Published in East Campus, On Campus Development
Developers once again descended on east campus last week to examine the site officially for the second time. The Diamondback’s only adequate coverage ever of the East Campus Development initiative (just about a month late) had some interesting quotes that we hope you didn’t miss. John Porcari, vice president of administrative affairs, stated that there is “a very high level of interest in a first-class hotel” on east campus and that the demographics of the area are “a great base for some kind of town center development.”
The continued pursuit of a luxury hotel on east campus is interesting considering that the market study conducted for the university questioned the viability of a such a hotel – given the highly seasonal nature of room demand around the university. That same report speculated that as more complementary projects like office buildings and M-Square come online, a hotel might be in order, and they cited a number of case studies at other universities to support that opinion. The proposed 250 room North Gate Hotel (next to University View) and several other new hotels in the area all threaten to throw administrators hotel dreams off track.
