Four quadrangles surrounded by a sea of green will house more than 1,000 beds as well as academic, performance and dining facilities. The whole package will come with a $240-million price tag.
And that's just Phase I.
Visions of the new Central Campus have been a topic of discussion at Duke since 2000. Because of ongoing planning and design revisions, groundbreaking has been delayed several times. Despite difficulties, administrators are optimistic about improving campus culture with the changes.
In a speech delivered to students in March, President Richard Brodhead described the construction of Central Campus as a major part of the next strategic plan.
"What will make the new Central strategic, rather than merely necessary, is the way it will speak to the new model of education," Brodhead said.
The new Central will combine residence halls with academic spaces and provide space and facilities for visual and performance art.
The campus will also be physically integrative by serving as a bridge between East Campus, West Campus and the Nasher Museum of Art. Furthermore, the improvements will bring undergraduate students closer to graduate students since all students will have the option to live on Central.
"The plans are still being tweaked," Executive Vice President Tallman Trask told The Chronicle in July. "The Board wasn't ready to agree unanimously with it."
Administrators considered suggestions made by the Board of Trustees after its May meeting in the newest planning revisions. The changes extended the starting date for construction to next summer, Trask said.
About a dozen board members visited the campus in July to review the revised plans. The new draft of the plans have been made and will be presented to the Board when they meet this weekend. Construction can only begin after the plan receives the stamp of approval from the board.
Should the plans receive the thumbs up, Duke will need to negotiate local and state zoning ordinances, Trask told The Chronicle in May. The University has already submitted a rezoning proposal to the Durham Planning Commission in order to change Central Campus land from a residential to a university-college zone.
Provost Peter Lange and Durham community leaders met in August at a closed-door meeting to discuss the future of Central Campus. Although the conclusions from the meeting were not disclosed, the group gathered to discuss 12 specific concerns raised by neighbors on community listservs which ranged from the preservation of wetlands to historic houses.
Before any buildings are constructed, however, preliminary roadwork and pipe and wire installation must be completed.
"Even if we start moving dirt, you won't see anything except foundations for well over a year," Lange said.
With the recent delays, students are expected to move in to the new apartments in Fall 2009.
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