CCU looking at new campus master plan

Coastal Carolina University could be voting on a new campus master plan later this year.

All the buildings and projects in the current version of the master plan implemented in 2011 have been completed or started, and Vice President for Finance and Administration Stacie Bowie said she hopes the board will vote for the new plan in October or December.

“Really, this strategic master planning of the campus in regards to construction has moved forward so much faster than originally contemplated when we put this together in 2011,” Bowie said. “Because it’s moved forward so quickly, we’ve basically run out of things to do.”

The new plan could add several buildings to the campus, but it won’t change the campus footprint laid out as part of the current version that includes expanding the campus down S.C. 544 between the campus and the fire tower parking lot across the street from student apartment complex University Place.

“Students now can cross the street and then they can walk up the sidewalk, which we’ve lit and get to campus that way,” Bowie said. “But if possible, we’d like to connect the main campus land all the way between what we currently own and the fire tower parking.”

The university can buy or lease the land as it becomes available for sale as long as they pay appraised value or lower, she said. Because the school is a state agency, they can’t pay more than the land is worth.

“Sometimes around campus, property owners think ‘you need this piece of property or it’s highly valuable to you so I’m going to put an asking price on it that’s higher than it’s appraised value,’” Bowie said. “But if they do that, we can’t buy it. So as we’ve begun to buy a couple of pieces along the way, we’ve worked with the owners and we’ve gotten it at or below appraised value.”

If the school desires a piece of property that it can’t get for appraised value, the Coastal Educational Foundation can step in.

The foundation is a private 501(c)3 organization that isn’t restricted by some of the rules governing state agencies.

“It does add a little more flexibility but from a financial prudence perspective, even if it’s just a little more than appraised value, we would prefer it to be at appraised value,” she said. “But if we come to some conclusion with the seller where it’s a little higher, then our foundation does have the ability to do that.”

The foundation can then lease, sell or give the property to the university at appraised value.

The campus expansion is just one part of the strategic plan the board of directors approved Aug. 12.

The plan lays out a direction for the school through 2021 with a projected student population of 12,500.

“I think one of the most important attributes is that the president and the entire campus community is committed to growth at somewhere between 2 1/2 to 3 percent a year, so by 2021, we can be at a place that by 2023, to be at about 12,500 students,” said professor Darla Domke-Damonte, Ph.D.

The additional buildings will make room for more classrooms, she said.

So far, the school has grown from 8,706 students during the fall 2010 semester to a projected 10,550 during the fall of 2016.

This story was originally published August 29, 2016 at 6:20 PM with the headline "CCU looking at new campus master plan."