UCONN looking to make Storrs a college town

[Icebear]

The best college town in the USA..........

What is?

 

[alexrgct]

Blacksburg is in Appalachia, which is a dreadfully backwards and racist region of the country. I heard more racial slurs living in Blacksburg than anywhere else I've lived in my life (and I've lived in a lot of places). It is rather dull; there is very little going on, especially after football season. Compared to Storrs, I guess you can say there are restaurants, coffeeshops, and bars, but it pales in comparison to Chapel Hill, Athens, or Ann Arbor. You could do everything there is to do in Blacksburg in two weeks...except to receive an undergraduate degree, you would have to be there for four years. The closest "city" is Roanoke, which is not exactly Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, etc. I would have said that it was extremely safe at one time, but recent events have clouded my feelings regarding that. The only good thing I will say for it is that the Blue Ridge is beautiful. But setting only goes so far.

 

[Vowelguy]

Amherst-Northhampton, MA & Burlington, VT

Williamstown is more like a college village than a college town.

Frankly, I can't believe it's taken them this long to try this in Storrs.

 

[JimGunther]

I had some business at OSU in Columbus a few weeks ago. Nice town with a fairly diverse economy in addition to the enormous University.
The university apparently took over a bunch of property in a dodgey part of town and spent MILLIONS $$ (Lots of em.) to spiff up the area. The jury is still out but, my University contact (who ought to know) says, it has not yet gotten close to economic viability - Lots of OSU offices are subsidizing what was expected to be 'kinda gentrified.

 

[SubbaBub]

I've never been to Storrs..... so I assume its not a traditional college town ?? Just curious... what are the "college towns" in the Northeast ?

Amherst, Northampton, Burlington, Princeton, Ithaca, State College, College Park, and Newark, DE are all quintessential college towns. There are others.

What it means is that there is higher density developments (a Main Street) surrounding the campus that enhance the quality of life, even if they depend heavily on the University for sales.

Storrs (Mansfield) is very rural. The old joke is that it used to be called Store, until they built a second one.

Topography and a hostile local population make development a challenge as well as a sparse local population. The Storrs Center project is badly needed but just a small part of what needs to happen.

The North Campus expansion also needs to happen to attract high paying tech employers to build the population.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Drumguy]

I've never been to Storrs..... so I assume its not a traditional college town ?? Just curious... what are the "college towns" in the Northeast ?

If you've been to Hanover or Ithaca you have terrific examples of towns that are there bascially beacuse of the school. UConn has a couple of small strip stores and about a mile away are more strip stores. Really nothing around it. When I was there we'd go to Boston, Hartford or New Haven for big time concerts and shopping.

 

[uconnfan68]

Thinking off the top of my head... among the "BCS" conferences.. my perceived college towns are ..... ACC = Chapel Hill, Charlottesville, Boston, and perhaps Blacksburg and Clemson. Big East = none that I can think of.... perhaps South Bend and whatever town Rutgers is located. Big 10 = All of them except Lincoln, Columbus, East Lansing, and Minneapolis. SEC = College Station (I guess), Auburn, Tuscaloosa (maybe), definitely Oxford, Athens, Gainesville and Starkville (well maybe) ... and perhaps Columbia.

I'll leave the Big 12 and Pac 12 for someone else... Im tired of thinking right now

Clemson? Seriously? Must have changed a lot in 20 years.

 

[Near Nyack]

Maybe you haven't heard the old Lou Holtz quote: "The town used to be call Store and then they got another one."

 

[triaddukefan]

If you've been to Hanover or Ithaca you have terrific examples of towns that are there bascially beacuse of the school. UConn has a couple of small strip stores and about a mile away are more strip stores. Really nothing around it. When I was there we'd go to Boston, Hartford or New Haven for big time concerts and shopping.

Actually the only place i've ever been in the Northeast was Boston.... many years ago. One of these years... I'll make it up to New England explore the cities and small towns as well.....

 

[UCinsider]

Here's a link to progress photos and more info about the project:

http://storrscenterconstruction.blogspot.com/