Posted Dec 10, 2008, 4:25 AM
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Earthling
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Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: San José
Posts: 1,360
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It's not a done deal from Drexel University's end--but it sounds like way too sweet a deal to pass up. I mean...here's some free land, hang on to half and you can sell off the other half to fund building your campus...
Based on that, it looks to be a likely and promising possibility for expanded, quality, higher education in the greater Sacramento area.
Placer County approves Drexel campus
Tuesday, December 9, 2008 - 2:07 PM PST
Sacramento Business Journal - by Kelly Johnson Staff writer
Quote:
Placer County supervisors unanimously approved a plan Tuesday for a 600-acre regional university campus just west of Roseville.
The county Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 for the planned campus, which is envisioned for Drexel University. The Philadelphia university is still exploring the possibility of establishing an undergraduate campus on the land that would be donated to the institution.
The county leaders’ decision paves the way for Drexel University to pursue development of a 600-acre campus and sell the remaining property for mixed-use development to fund the initial campus construction.
The land is south of Pleasant Grove Creek between Brewer Road and the western boundary of the city of Roseville.
Drexel envisions a private university serving up to 6,000 students. By some estimates, a campus of that size could pump $150 million to $200 million annually into the local economy. In January, Drexel will begin offering master’s programs at its Sacramento Center for Graduate Studies in downtown Sacramento.
A total of 1,150 acres is being donated by the Angelo K. and Sofia Tsakopoulos family, William and Claudia Cummings, the Wayne Prim family and their partners. They first offered the land in 2001 for a new university in the region.
The planned gift would be one of the largest land donations to a private university in California and would dramatically expand higher education options in the region, Drexel representatives said in a news release Tuesday.
“This is an exciting day for Placer County and the entire Greater Sacramento region — a day when the stage has been set for increased higher education opportunities,” Kyriakos Tsakopoulos, who has led the effort on behalf of his family and other donors, said in a news release. “We appreciate the support of the Board of Supervisors and countless others who have worked with us to make this plan a reality.”
“The Greater Sacramento area has long exported students to private universities outside of the region,” he added. “Now we are changing that dynamic by laying the groundwork for a major, private university right here in our community.”
The project could serve as “a catalyst for many wonderful things in the community,” Wayne Prim, a longtime trustee for Sierra Nevada College at Lake Tahoe, said in the release.
Norma Santucci, a Roseville community leader whose late husband, former Placer County Supervisor Bill Santucci, was a longtime proponent of the project, called the day “historic.”
“While our country’s history is filled with examples of universities being created from the generosity of visionaries, it is rare today,” she said. “We are fortunate to have families willing to donate land worth hundreds of millions of dollars to advance higher education.”
Drexel would have five years to accept the land donation and several years after that to establish a campus on the property. Drexel would sell the easternmost portion of the property for mixed-use development and use the proceeds for a university endowment. The current market value of that land is unknown, but before the real estate market tanked, Drexel could have received an estimated $300 million to $400 million with which to fund the campus.
Sierra Club representatives have said they worry that the project would encourage future growth and “leapfrog” development away from other built-up areas.
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