Stenger discusses Health Sciences Campus at town-hall meeting

Johnson City can help Binghamton University with urban planning in the area around the Health Sciences Campus, President Harvey Stenger said at a town-hall meeting on Oct. 10.

“Help us in planning the neighborhood,” he said. “Help us understand the greater vision of the neighborhood around us. Take the area from Broad Street up to Main: What’s going to happen to that block of 20-30 houses? I think we should have big-picture ideas on how to manage that.

“How many coffee shops do we need? How many restaurants do we need? What is a good idea for Main Street? That’s where you will see tax revenues. If you can fill storefronts on Main Street with commercial properties, that’s a great win for everybody.”

The town-hall meeting drew a standing-room-only crowd to the George Korutz Justice Building in Johnson City. Stenger, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Dean Gloria Meredith and Decker School of Nursing Dean Mario Ortiz all discussed plans for developing the Health Sciences Campus in the village.

The plans include the new 84,000-square-foot, four-story building that will open in 2018 to house the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Next to it will be a $15 million research and development site. The Decker School of Nursing will relocate from the main campus in Vestal and occupy the third building in the complex.

Stenger praised the backing that the project has received from the village.

“Johnson City has been helpful with everything we have asked for,” he said.

Developers who have purchased property in the village have already contacted Binghamton University, Stenger said.

“They approach us and ask if we want to buy at twice what they paid,” he said. “We say: No, we don’t. But we would like you to do something nice with it. We are going to have a lot of customers (in Johnson City). Turn it into a business.”

Student housing was discussed, as Stenger and Meredith were asked where the initial cohort of pharmacy students are living.

Most of the graduate students live off campus and commute to the Vestal campus, Meredith said. But opportunities could arise when the pharmacy building opens.

“If I’m a pharmacy student and I see some good housing (options) in Johnson City, I might want to live close enough that I can walk,” Stenger said.

The audience also learned about a supporting project led by the Geography Department: a “story map” that examines various aspects of the Health Sciences Campus development.

The geography team of faculty members, staff and students is using maps, videos and photos on a website that provides the history of the site, a narrative of the project, construction progress, a monitoring of crime and neighborhood change.

“All of this will be stored in a publicly available website that will be continually updated,” Stenger said.

Stenger called the Health Sciences Campus “one of the most personally satisfying projects I’ve been able to be involved in.”

“When I came back to New York state in 2006, I said: ‘What happened while I was gone?’” he recalled. “To have the opportunity to take (a village) and see the impact that we can have in recovery and enhancing the neighborhoods and the economy is satisfying.”

The president also remembered the first time he walked around the campus sites at 48 Corliss Ave. and 96 Corliss Ave.

“I said: ‘Boy, this isn’t going to be easy. It’s going to be hard,’” he said. “But not once have I heard anyone say this is a bad idea. I want to thank the village, the town and the community members who have been supportive of what I consider a major disruption in Johnson City. Now that the pharmacy building is starting to shine a little bit, we can see that the light at the end of the tunnel is good news.”