Jones Lang LaSalle


Rutgers delays design competition

Rutgers University will delay its grand plans to redesign the heart of its New Brunswick campus because it would be "inappropriate" while millions of dollars in state funding cuts are looming, school officials announced today.

The state university was supposed to unveil the five final designs later this week in an international competition to revamp the College Avenue campus. But campus officials began calling the design firms, jury members and other participants this morning to announce the delay. The competition will be delayed until early fall, at the earliest, said Rutgers University President Richard McCormick. "We’re postponing the unveiling of the designs," McCormick said. "Right now, the university community and I are preoccupied with the budget cuts." Last month, Gov. Jon Corzine proposed a $169 million cut to higher education in his budget proposal to help keep the state out of the red. Rutgers officials expect to lose about $114 million, including money they were expecting from the state to help cover mandatory salary and fringe benefit increases for campus employees. The budget cuts would not impact the College Avenue project directly.

But McCormick said it would be inappropriate for Rutgers to unveil ambitious plans to redesign its campus while fighting the budget cuts. "It would look like we didn’t get it. It would look insensitive, even arrogant," McCormick said. But Rutgers is not giving up on the plans to redesign its historic campus. The plans- including closing College Avenue to traffic and turning it into a green space- will happen eventually, the president said. Rutgers expects to raise money for the multi-year project through a state bond issue, state transportation funds and private donors