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July 5, 2021

Construction projects at Towson University, an anchor institution benefitting the public good, are nearing completion and major turning points. As staff returns in full to campus July 6 and students arrive in August, they’re sure to notice extraordinary additions. In total, there is more than $1 billion in public and private investment underway in Towson. Here are just a few examples of what has changed on campus.

The College of Health Professions

TU will break ground this summer on a six-story College of Health Professions (CHP) building in the heart of campus, thanks to funding approved and pre-authorized by the Maryland General Assembly. Site work has already started.

The 240,000-square-foot building is estimated to cost $175 million, representing a significant investment in Towson University’s leadership in health professions and as an anchor institution for greater Baltimore and Maryland. The building will features 19 collaborative classrooms, 10 specialty labs facilitating hands-on learning in nursing, occupational therapy, pediatrics, anatomy, health assessment and more, ten patient exam rooms, eight speech and audiology research labs, six specialty simulation labs and an acute care multi-patient simulation environment, and a 300-seat auditorium.

Parking and road adjustments are being implemented as TU prepares to break ground on the College of Health Professions building. As of June 28, 2021, the Glen Esk access road connecting Newell Avenue and University Avenue will permanently close. Drivers should use York Road and Burke Avenue as an alternate route. Pedestrians should follow posted signs. Paratransit assistance is available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays by calling 410-704-RIDE (7433).

The University Union

The first phase of a remodeled University Union will be completed in the later Summer and early Fall. A new space includes ballrooms, third-floor meeting rooms, second-floor lobbies, and a food market. Campus Life and Student Activities move into their completed offices in the former Potomac Room this fall.

Renovations will also begin on offices for the Center for Student Diversity, Student Life, Art Services and Paws with a goal for completion in Summer 2022.

Science Complex

The new, 320,000-square-foot Science Complex opened earlier this year and is now TU’s largest academic structure. It includes 50 teaching laboratories, 30 research laboratories, 50 classrooms, eight lecture halls, 10 collaborative student spaces, an outdoor classroom leading to the Glen Arboretum, a rooftop greenhouse complex, a new planetarium and an observatory.

Construction trailers that were parked on Stephens Hall Lawn have been removed.

Residence Halls

For the 2021-2022 academic year Tower C at the Glen Complex will be offline. About $52 million in total renovations to Glen Towers, including replacing windows, repairing and replacing storm drain and sanitary lines, adding rainscreen systems, updating the HVAC and elevator systems are planned. The other buildings will receive the same updates through 2023.

The University System of Maryland Board of Regents supported the request to rename Paca House and Carroll Hall — two residence halls located in Towson University’s West Village. This fall, TU will begin work to establish names for the buildings, guided by and in compliance with TU’s policy on naming of facilities. In the interim, temporary campus location designations, West Village 1 and West Village 2, will be utilized to identify these buildings on campus maps. 

Off-campus additions

After acquiring the property of 401 Washington Avenue in uptown Towson during 2019, TU has begun the process of moving staff, including the Office of Technology Services (OTS) and Strategic Partners & Applied Research (SPAR). University Advancement will be moving to 401 Washington Avenue as well.

TU is revitalizing the historic Armory building in uptown Towson. When it opens in summer 2021, the StarTUp at the Armory will serve as TU’s front door for start-ups, small businesses, as well as our region’s largest corporations. This public-facing vibrant space will catalyze entrepreneurs and executives and connect them to each other and to TU’s programs and people.