George Mason University officials opened community engagement efforts on Wednesday (Dec. 11) to determine a development plan for the 190-acre western portion of the school’s main campus in Fairfax.
The forum at the Fairfax City Hall attracted about 100 participants and was designed to “usher in a process that gets the community engaged,” Andrew Lieber, the university’s senior associate athletic director for capital planning, said.
The presented options represented “a means to provoke conversation” rather than concrete proposals, he said.
“You’re not going to see a predetermined plan,” Lieber told participants.
By one count, this is the eighth time university officials have taken a run at developing a long-term plan for what they call the West Campus, dating back to 1968. Currently, the parcel west of Ox Road includes athletic facilities, open space, parking lots and woodlands.
A plan to partner with Washington Freedom, D.C.’s professional cricket team, for construction of a new stadium for that sport and baseball was nixed in March after it failed to get community support. New development on the site is likely to incorporate athletics infrastructure as part of the overall mix, university officials said.
“The majority of our facilities were built in the 1980s, and they look it,” GMU Director of Athletics Marvin Lewis said.
Mason’s fieldhouse is slightly newer — it dates from the early 1990s — but “it’s definitely time to make an update,” he added.
The development could include housing for students, staff and the community, along with retail space and, potentially, a hotel. It also could incorporate redevelopment of the southwest portion of the main Fairfax campus, close to the EagleBank Arena area.
In a question-and-answer session following the presentation, local residents zeroed in on the scale of development and its impact on traffic congestion, notably on Braddock Road just south of the campus.
University officials said all issues would be fleshed out as the proposal moves forward.
“This is the beginning,” Lieber said.
Ken Walsh, the university’s chief of staff and vice president for strategic initiatives, said funding constraints make it likely that any development would be phased in over time. The university could potentially partner with one or more private-sector firms, or go it alone.
In the 1980s and 1990s, GMU explored developing the West Campus parcel to bring in academic buildings, research institutions and firms in related industries, but those plans didn’t materialize. A proposal to build a “research park” on the site in the late 2010s was also abandoned, with most of those planned facilities instead incorporated to the university’s redeveloped Arlington campus.
Next on the timeline, university officials will hold a similar engagement process on the Fairfax campus, aimed at students and staff. Walsh said another community forum will likely occur in the spring.
“Our overall aim is to provide lots of opportunities” for discussion, he said.
Several elected officials, including Del. David Bulova (D-11) and representatives from the Fairfax City Council, were also on hand. Buy-in from both the General Assembly and city is likely necessary for any development effort to move forward.
To expand the athletic and recreational facilities on the Fairfax campus, Mason has begun construction of a 25,000-square-foot Activities Community Wellness Building. The facility, which will include dedicated space for GMU’s “Green Machine” pep band, is slated to open next year.
