ASU plans for the future

President Bloodworth presented the basic features of the university’s new master plan to the Board of Regents, on Tuesday February 3. The plan focuses on capacity for future growth. The capacity of the university is now only 7,200 students. The primary constraint for the future is the small size (77 acres) of our property on Walton Way. That property cannot be enlarged because adjacent property is too historic and too expensive to acquire.

Yet ASU is facing a substantial influx of students over the next ten or twelve years, during which the University System is expected to increase its enrolmment by 80 percent. Therefore, the university is planning to increase its academic facilities on Wrightsboro Road around the Christenberry Fieldhouse. Property on Wrightsboro Road is not in a historic district; has no neighborhood traffic problems, is close to land that the ASU Foundation hopes to acquire for student housing; and, most importantly, is bordered by at least 50 acres of land that can be acquired in years to come.

The new plan shows that by putting more academic facilities on the Wrightsboro Road property, the university can dramatically increase the capacity of the university. This will require some future land acquisition, but it won’t be as expensive as land in the Summerville neighborhood. Putting the next major instructional building on Wrightsboro Road increases capacity to 8,200 and allows for the planning of even more growth by acquiring adjacent land.

The plan also includes a number of additions needed on our Summerville property, including a student activities center, a library addition, and facilities for fine arts. An update will be issued shortly regarding the new master plan and ongoing plans for student housing.

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