University Announces Potential Sites for Residential College, New Engineering and Environmental Facilities

The University announced April 17 that it is looking at a site south of Poe and Pardee fields, the traditional end of the P-rade at Reunions, as the location for a 500-student residential college.

At the same time, Princeton said that an area along Ivy Lane and Western Way, north of the football stadium, is a potential site for an expansion of the engineering school and for facilities to house environmental studies and the departments of geosciences and ecology and evolutionary biology (EEB).

President Eisgruber ’83 described the sites as “promising locations” for the high-priority projects that emerged from Princeton’s strategic plan. But he added: “We have more work to do and more consultations to conduct before making final decisions, and we welcome comments from members of our campus, town and alumni communities as we continue to refine our planning.” 

The future of the 275,000-square-foot E-Quad, built in 1962, is still to be determined, according to Daniel Day, assistant vice president for communications.

Also uncertain are plans for Guyot Hall, the 1909 building that houses geosciences, EEB, and the Princeton Environmental Institute.

More details are expected with the release of Princeton’s 10-year campus plan in the fall. After the locations are set, architects will be selected and fund-raising will take place.

From the time that groundbreaking occurs, Day said, it would take about five years for the residential college — the University’s seventh — to open.

Located on the proposed sites for the engineering and environmental facilities are parking lots, 30 townhouses for faculty and staff, and a building at 5 Ivy Lane that houses the Center for the Study of Religion.

The University said it anticipates a variety of uses south of Lake Carnegie, and that it is considering building a bridge for pedestrians and cyclists to cross the lake southeast of Jadwin Gym. Among the possibilities for the lands, located in West Windsor Township, are tennis courts and softball facilities that would make way for the new residential college, buildings for academic and innovation initatives, and housing for graduate students and postdocs. Plans call for all academic classrooms and all undergraduate housing to remain north of the lake.