Maggie Young
   News Editor

The past several years UNC-Greensboro has undergone expansion for new student housing, a new Wellness Center and various other campus amenities. While it has been argued that the growth of the campus demonstrates growing interest in UNCG, the expansion has been met with resistance by those living in the surrounding Glenwood area.

Last Friday, January 29, Chancellor Gilliam, along with Vice Chancellor of Business Affairs Charles Maimone, Director of Campus Enterprises Scott Milman, Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities Jorge Quintal and Councilwoman Sharon Hightower invited residents to attend a meet-and-greet.

Chancellor Gilliam had not yet met the residents and wanted the meet-and-greet to serve as an opportunity for those in attendance to get to know him as well as gain input from the residents.

At the beginning of the meet-and-greet Councilwoman Hightower stressed the need to work together and have a productive dialogue.

She told those in attendance, “while we may not always agree on how things are going, we have to agree on one thing and that is progress for the future.”

During the meet-and-greet attendees were shown pictures of the prospective new facilities that will be erected along West Lee Street. The buildings, which will be an extension of Spartan Village and will have housing for upperclassmen and masters students, will be mixed-use.

The plan for mixed-use is to have retail and academic spaces on the ground floors of the buildings and have student housing above. The hope is that the shops will attract more business to the area and will also provide jobs for residents of the surround neighborhood.

When UNCG first began plans to build the mixed-use facilities a survey was sent out to neighborhood members asking what sorts of businesses they would like to see in the plans.

Many expressed desire to see a restaurant with take-out and in-store dining, venues that sold fresh produce, non-fast food chains, a book store, and hardware and shoe-repair stores were generally preferred.

Residents additionally expressed that they wanted the businesses to have a general upscale quality, but ones that would still be reasonably priced.

Scott Milman explained that as it stands UNCG plans to have a Tropical Smoothie Café, Home Slice pizza, Pita Delite, an Asian/Mexican taco fusion restaurant, The Den (an upscale diner), Mimi Kitchen and a grocery store run by the owners of Bestway.

Although alcohol will not be sold at these locations it has yet to be determined if residents and of-age students will be permitted to have their own alcoholic beverages on the premises.

The retail space will also include an art/book store, a Recycles bike shop, and a hair salon.

Some residents have suggested that, in the past, UNCG has not actively considered the concerns of the residents and fear their voices will not be heard as the buildings are constructed.

One resident and current UNCG student, Femi Shittu, wanted to know if this project would be the last expansion into the Glenwood neighborhood.

Charles Maimone stressed that through the Glenwood Neighborhood plan and UNCG’s strategic plan lines were drawn for development in areas where UNCG and the Greater Glenwood Neighborhood Association could agree on construction.

He also stated that there are “building sites on [the] campus proper that haven’t utilized.”

Several attendees wanted to know if the residents would be offered livable wages for jobs in the retail spaces. One resident and former student of UNCG expressed concerns about rising rent in the area and wanted to know if the jobs offered would be above minimum wage.

To this Chancellor Gilliam told the group that if the retailers did not offer livable wages “[UNCG] would express severe disappointment.”

Former UNCG student, Holden Cession, expressed concern about how the development might lead to gentrification in the long run.

Chancellor Gilliam began, “that’s a really tough question.” He wondered allowed about the balance between providing benefit to a community and morphing it into something that threatens its character.

He explained that the area’s proximity to the university “will keep it from tipping over into pure gentrification.”

He continued by saying “but, I don’t think anybody here can predict the trend…fifteen years from now.”

The remainder of the meet-and-greet was an opportunity for Jorge Quintal to discuss the logistics of building plans, locations of buildings, and a timeline for demolition and construction.

The demolition will begin on February 15 and the buildings are set to be occupant-ready in July of next year.