by Jordie Smith
CMU has grown throughout the past few years, and CMU President Tim Foster and administrators have no immediate plans to put a halt to that growth.
One of the most recent moves toward expanding the campus has been the purchase of land towards 7th Street. CMU has finalized a purchase of land stretching west of campus towards 7th along Mesa Avenue.
A $4 million purchase was made by CMU for this land. After Dec. 1, the land that is currently occupied by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and Little Lambs Learning Center will be owned by the university.
Because the renovations have been made to areas surrounding the campus, many businesses and homes have been placed in a tough situation. Many locals and students surrounding the campus had to move out of their homes due to the expansion of the campus.
“My friend had to move out of his house last year because the campus was going to tear it down for the parking lot and the new dorm building,” student Jordan Kraft said.
Construction around the campus has been less than ideal for students and locals, but in expanding the campus, only positive intentions are being presented.
Although some issues may have risen before, the purchase of this new land doesn’t pose any immediate changes as far as construction goes.
After December, the land bought by CMU will be leased to the church, day care and other buildings for various periods of time instead of being put under construction. Derek Wagner, vice president of intergovernmental and community affairs, told The Daily Sentinel that the university and church have been discussing the sale for at least five years.
“It took that amount of time for us to get to the point where they were comfortable doing a deal and we were at a point where we could do a deal,” Wagner said.
“It’s been a lot of conversations back and forth about what are their long-term plans as a congregation,” Wagner said. “Obviously they know our campus is growing and our master plan takes us to the west, all the way to 7th Street. Those conversations just had to mature to where it was a win-win for everybody.”
