Goodwin College, having long outgrown its main campus digs on Burnside Avenue in East Hartford, will open to students this month its new, $41 million six-story facility on the Connecticut River.
But until last month, the school still had one piece of unfinished business.
That’s when Goodwin purchased the last, above-ground oil tank on its 2.5-mile stretch along the Connecticut River, bringing a symbolic end to an era on Riverside Drive of a landscape once dominated by the outdated eyesores.
The opening of a new academic building on the former brownfield comes at a time when enrollments at two-year schools are starting to boom in response to economic conditions. And as Goodwin College anticipates ballooning enrollments over the next few years, school officials and area development agencies are touting the college’s expansion as a major economic driver for the region.
“There are so many elements that are absolutely remarkable,” said John Shemo, MetroHartford Alliance vice president and director of economic development. “They’re going to end up transforming the riverfront, and it’s hard to put a dollar value on that.”
For more than 20 years, the properties had been tax-delinquent. The property is expected to generate about $600,000 for the town of East Hartford through the state’s PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes), according to the college.
Student Housing
Goodwin’s redevelopment of the area also includes plans for student housing. Goodwin College has been buying up housing along Route 2, across from the campus. College officials already purchased 34 apartment units and also plan to redevelop another 80-unit housing complex.
Jeanne Webb, East Hartford director of development and planning, said the “facelift” along the Connecticut River will bring more attention to developing the neighborhood as students and teachers begin to move in.
“It will get to get more attention as it matures and grows,” Webb said. “It’s going to be a neighborhood that people who have a certain bent on life will want to be at.”
Construction has yet to start on an $80 million marine science magnet school, but enrollment is expected to start next fall.
Aside from providing additional revenues to East Hartford, the school’s greatest contribution to the region will be the students it produces, said Mark Scheinberg, Goodwin’s president.
Goodwin’s students are typically nontraditional and older. On average, they are 32 years old, and more than 50 percent qualify as low income. Many attend Goodwin through their employers, and the school is expected to graduate more than 1,200 by 2010.
Four-Year Degrees
The college’s potential economic impact was recognized by the state in the form of $12 million in bond funding. There was some hesitancy to grant public money to a private college, but Scheinberg pleaded his case by positioning the school as an economic development entity.
“We said, ‘Make believe we’re manufacturing widgets. Don’t hurt us because we’re manufacturing nurses and not widgets,’” Scheinberg said.
Goodwin, which last month was approved for its first four-year degree program, has built-in flexibility to meet the demands of the state work force.
When the state realized a few years ago it was facing a nursing shortage, Goodwin created a nursing program that now graduates the second-highest number of nurses from any academic institution in Connecticut. Should the state finally meets its demand for nurses, Scheinberg said Goodwin would scale back the program to address another work force demand.
“We know not to get too closely married to one program,” he said.
Aside from boosting the state work force, Goodwin College plans to more than double its staff to meet its growing enrollment needs, adding more than 200 full-time jobs to its previous base of 119.
“I don’t know anyone else who can say that right now,” said Todd Andrews, Goodwin director of institutional advancement.
