Mason to House Faculty and Staff

By Connect Mason Asst. News Director Rashad Mulla

George Mason University Facilities staff discussed plans for faculty and staff housing in meetings Monday and Tuesday. Thomas Calhoun, vice president of facilities at Mason, presented an outline of the project to 25 people over the two meetings.

• Click here to view Tom Calhoun's Powerpoint presentation.

The plan intends to provide 155 rental units available by December 2009, including single-bedroom flats and up to 3-bedroom town homes. The housing will be located in the northeast section of campus, outside of Patriot Circle, directly behind the Facilities building. Calhoun proposed entrances from Patriot Circle and Roberts Road.

Calhoun hopes to start renting properties as early as next summer. Developers and contractors have been signed up for the project for two years.

Originally, Mason was going to sell the properties instead of renting them, but numerous concerns prevented this. Calhoun said there were many legal challenges in selling state-owned property to private individuals.

Some who attended the meeting were disappointed due to this sequence of events.

“The goal of the project is to aid in recruitment and retention of new faculty and staff,” Calhoun said Wednesday. “Because this is a rental property, obviously this will be geared more toward the recruiting end.”

This week’s meetings came on the heels of discussions with the city council and Fairfax residential communities.