UB Unveils Ambitious Capital Expansion Plan

By Joyce Kryszak

Buffalo, NY – UB has a new master plan that officials say will grow the university, benefit the region and make UB a 21st century model university. Officials unveiled the long-awaited comprehensive physical plan Tuesday night. It calls for more than five billion dollars worth of capital expansion and improvements across all three campuses over the next 20 to 30 years.

"It is what is sometimes referred to as b-hag, a big hairy audacious goal," said Robert Shibely, director of UB's Urban Design and lead on the master plan project.

As evidence of that, Shibley had giant, impressive architectural renderings, scores of data, and even an inch and half thick bound hardcover book containing the finished product.

The plan took three years from inception to completion, a cadre of planners, input from thousands of people and $4.5 million dollars. And that was just to get it on paper. Now the real work begins.

But Shibley said for the first time, UB has a solid concept for future growth that does not leave campuses or buildings stranded.

One of the first priorities of the plan was to make sure each campus has its own academic mission. That will mean expansion and improvements on all three campuses and shifting some programs.

The north campus will retain the college of arts and sciences, engineering and management. The south campus will become home to the professional schools, including architecture, law, social work and education. And the downtown campus will complete UB's biomedical corridor vision, with all health sciences located at the rapidly expanding campus.

That includes eventually relocating all health sciences from the south campus, including the dental and pharmacy schools. UB President John B. Simpson said they are prepared for opposition.

The medical and nursing schools would be the first to move downtown, followed quickly by public health and, many years later, dentistry and pharmacy. Once complete, the downtown campus is expected to house about 13,000 students, faculty and staff.

Expansion and population growth are also planned at the other two campuses. Shibley said the south campus will not be abandoned. He said the professional schools will make good neighbors, and the campus will get a new look with refurbished historic buildings and a more parklike setting.

The north campus would be enhanced to accommodate the largely undergraduate population. The spine could be widened and extended, connecting Ellicott around the lake.

But central to the plan also is tying all three campuses together.

Shibley said the best way to create a "spine" to do that is by extending metro rail. He said UB is actively working with the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority to push for extension of rail service that would link all three campuses before the NFTA extends service to the airport.

The tally for the twenty plus year build out at all three campuses is between five and six billion dollars. $2.9 billion of that would have to come from the state. Simpson said that is not as much of a reach as it seems.

"The plan is about capital expansion, which is one time funding, which the state of New York, generally, even in difficult times like last year, has been willing to come up with for investments in the future," said Simpson. "And this kind of plan really is an investment in the university, and therefore, an investment in the region."

Of course, Simpson said how fast the plan evolves will depend largely on passage of the UB 20-20 bill. The law, which would give UB greater financial flexibility, is currently stalled in the legislature.

Still, some work is already progressing, even without the bill. Shibley said cranes are in the air and the plan is moving forward. "It's not a question of if it will get done, but when," said Shibley.

UB officials said the master plan is closely linked with other plans for the region and demonstrates UB's long range commitment to western new york.