Ruth Birchett has seen Temple expand its facilities and buy land deeper in the North Central neighborhood during her many years living in the neighborhood. In the ‘80s, she recalls feeling concerned about the university’s vast and inflated land ownership in her community.
But upon learning that Temple’s newest construction endeavor will be for education, Birchett, a block captain and lifelong North Central resident, is relieved to hear the land will be used for a greater purpose than its current parking lot, she said.
“Whatever funding that they received to do this building is funding to further advance the mission of educating students,” Birchett said. “Which is fine and which is what we’d like to see.”
In November, Temple announced plans to begin construction this spring on a new facility for the Klein College of Media and Communication and the Center for the Performing and Cinematic Arts. The 199,000-square-foot building will be located directly across from Polett Walk and house classrooms, theater space and an integrated student media facility. Community members are largely supportive of the new build and look forward to seeing how it will benefit the neighborhood.
Temple’s relationship with North Central residents has seen its ups and downs, with tensions largely surrounding the university’s presence in a residential space.
In 2015, the university’s plan to build a football stadium in the area was strongly opposed by North Central residents. After conducting a $1.25 million feasibility survey, Temple decided not to move forward with the project to avoid disrupting the community.
Many locals have urged new university President John Fry to focus on improving safety and communication rather than inconsiderate expansion into residential spaces, The Temple News reported.
During planning for the new building, Temple officials said they engaged with registered community organizations and collaborated with residents to highlight the importance of community involvement. The university also ensured the project would benefit both the university and the surrounding area.
Andrea Swan, Temple’s director of community and neighborhood affairs, is hopeful the university’s new building will encourage residents and their families to consider attending Temple after high school and experience its programming benefits.
“With that location, it creates more visibility,” Swan said. “And I think it will create more of an opportunity for folks to be curious about what will be taking place in that school and how they can learn and how they can connect with the institution.”
Temple has already begun the North Central high school recruiting process, most notably with its neighbors at Carver High School of Engineering and Science, located near Main Campus on 16th Street near Norris Street. Temple police officer Leroy Wimberly created a presence in the school and helped mentor 42 students to join the university as freshmen this past fall.
CHS principal Darryl Johnson is thrilled by the high school’s partnership with Temple and hopes the new facility will further encourage community involvement and higher education opportunities for his students.
“I think it’s amazing that [Temple] gets to expand their campus,” Johnson said. “I’m very happy for them. Whatever brings more skills and resources to students, to give them better access to professional careers is always a great thing. I would love it to kind of even dig deeper and to see how this could truly support Carver in a very intentional way.”
Building construction is expected to be completed in 2027, giving the university and residents time to prepare for further community engagements. Birchett urges Temple to preserve green spaces and build in an architecturally consistent way.
“I think Temple has done a pretty good job from a design standpoint of having the buildings on the campus, they’ve done a good job with design,” Birchett said. “And they’ve done a superb job with landscaping. And so I would expect that this building is gonna look pretty nice.”
Swan echoes Birchett’s desire to fulfill an educational mission and takes pride in the effort and resources Temple pushes for their students and surrounding community.
As a Klein alumna herself, Swan is passionate about expanding Temple’s resources to neighboring communities. Her children have benefited from Temple’s programming, and she hopes to share these resources with nearby families who can profit in similar ways.
“A new and improved client building will enable Temple to reach a wider audience of students in high school and in college,” Swan said. “There are programs that are geared for high school students that students can enroll in. And hopefully, these programs will continue to stoke the interest of potential journalists, hopefully encourage more students to want to attend Temple and certainly Klein by association.”
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